Originally Posted by
Stung 
Again, don't hate me but I also don't view it as an illness (please don't take offense, I'm just sharing my personal view.) If all a cancer patient had to do was stop buying cancer at the cancer store, they would do it. That's just how I feel though.
I get what you are saying & had the same opinion for a long time.
I realized though, that no cancer patient deals with an inner voice urging them to buy more cancer, convincing them that cancer will make their life better. There is no dichotomy inside a cancer patient's mind rationalizing to them that they NEED it. It also took me a while to understand that this Voice doesn't always exist from the first-ever drink taken, that it grows in strength internally behind the scenes just feeding off the addict's intake & growing.... only speaking up when it is threatened, making it very difficult to differentiate from their "regular" inner voice.
If that person never picks up their first drink, this part of themselves may never become activated. But if they start drinking socially then increase their volume along with their stress it seems to become a chicken & egg thing - it no longer matters which came first or why.
Alcoholism would seem to fall more on the mental health spectrum of disorders than a physical disease. If you think about it in terms of bipolar or similar disorders, it is more comparable IMO.