Sorry for answering the title of the first thread, so it had to be changed. First of all let me state that "alcoholism" as it is refered to here or anywhere I guess seems to come in many different shapes and forms. There are different types of drinkers who abuse alcohol in many different ways. So I think even if there is some form of the affliction that could be considered a disease there is such a wide variety of people with alcohol issues that it is not a one size fits all. So by labeling all of our different drinking problems as one universal disease seems problematic to me. Now I guess the easiest way to lump them all together would be due to the fact that the cure is the same for all of the problems......quit drinking. But quitting drinking is the biggest problem most alcoholics and problem drinkers have, and that could be where it is some kind of mental disease/obsession.
So I guess my first issue would be that alcoholism is much too broad a spectrum as to label it as one disease/ailment/issue.