My parents sent me this article, also under the auspices of it being a must read. I'm the only one in my family with this "problem," as far as I know, so I can understand the comfort my parents may get from thinking that their son is a poor disease victim. It must be somewhat comforting to think that I have a disease instead of just being a stupid dumb ***.
Marty Mann wrote in "Women Suffer Too":
That was the point at which my doctor gave me the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" to read. The first chapters were a revelation to me. I wasn't the only person in the world who felt and behaved like this! I wasn't mad or vicious—I was a sick person. I was suffering from an actual disease that had a name and symptoms like diabetes or cancer or TB—and a disease was respectable, not a moral stigma!
I don't quite have the same reaction that Marty Mann had, however. A great burden was not lifted when I learned of this, as people in recovery often say. I don't appreciate being told, as in the article, that "[addiction] treatment must be continuing in order to avoid relapse," and I certainly don't like how it influences the general public. If this new development leads to the development of actual
medical treatment for addiction, that would be good, but I have a feeling that it will just bring more of the same.
"You have a disease... a chronic relapsing brain disease... you will relapse... nobody can quit..."
Very powerful stuff to be foisting upon addicted people who already feel hopeless. I grow increasingly weary of the comparisons to diabetes, epilepsy, and other chronic diseases. I actually prefer to think that I was a stupid dumb ***, since at least I can live down stupidity. Not so with a "chronic, relapsing brain disease" that needs lifelong "treatment" (whatever that means).
Note: Marty Mann Quote is from 2nd Edition stories of Alcoholics Anonymous (copyright is invalid in the USA).