Alcoholism disease concept
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 142
I am sure glad AA has a tradition which states -“Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.” The nature of alcoholism is an “outside issue. Now I realize this site is not AA and we are free to discuss this ad nauseum, but this is where the discussion belongs, not in a meeting.
The closest the Big Book comes to a definition of alcoholism is on p. 44, where we are told that alcoholism “is an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.”
The only time the book uses the word disease is in connection with resentments in chapter 5 ( spiritual disease)
Bill Wilson in 1961 talking to the National Catholic Clergy on Alcoholism:
The closest the Big Book comes to a definition of alcoholism is on p. 44, where we are told that alcoholism “is an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.”
The only time the book uses the word disease is in connection with resentments in chapter 5 ( spiritual disease)
Bill Wilson in 1961 talking to the National Catholic Clergy on Alcoholism:
Alcoholism is clearly a spiritual disease. But it's impossible for the locus of the disease to be in the brain, because then scientists would be able to find a cure eventually. But the Big Book says that no human power could relieve our alcoholism. Therefore the only answer is that it must be encoded in our DNA. No human power can change the DNA of a fully-developed living being.
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: scotland
Posts: 1,493
im with you shaun...and the last post from omega...MY EXPERIENCE....
the spirtual malady is not exclusive to alcoholics.my spritual malady which boiled down = seperation from God...my first recall of this was at 7 years old...God showed me it in meditation after i got sober...i didnt start drinking till 12/13.
the obsession comes to this alcoholic AFTER the malady..then i drink...then the allergy kicks in.
the obsession and allergy are symptoms of my spiritual disease/malady/seperation,which has manifested in other areas nothing to do with alcohol....ive been shown a bigger picture.
alcoholism is obsession and allergy.
the spirtual malady is not exclusive to alcoholics.my spritual malady which boiled down = seperation from God...my first recall of this was at 7 years old...God showed me it in meditation after i got sober...i didnt start drinking till 12/13.
the obsession comes to this alcoholic AFTER the malady..then i drink...then the allergy kicks in.
the obsession and allergy are symptoms of my spiritual disease/malady/seperation,which has manifested in other areas nothing to do with alcohol....ive been shown a bigger picture.
alcoholism is obsession and allergy.
1000 Post Club
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Midwest USA
Posts: 2,284
Eleven months sober and I know that it is a spiritual malady. I know that for me
Most of my drinking was me trying to connect. Alcohol would give me, at times, an elevated state, feeling connected with people.
I find it harder to post on the newcomers forum as I want to say that it is a spiritual problem but not a lot of people can relate to that, especially at the beginning.
I don''t think I would have.
CaiHong
Most of my drinking was me trying to connect. Alcohol would give me, at times, an elevated state, feeling connected with people.
I find it harder to post on the newcomers forum as I want to say that it is a spiritual problem but not a lot of people can relate to that, especially at the beginning.
I don''t think I would have.
CaiHong
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: « USA » Recovered with AVRT (Rational Recovery) ___________
Posts: 3,680
This is why, if you have a lobotomy, for example, your mind, and not just your brain, will change. It is also precisely why alcohol and other psychoactive drugs can change the mind by altering the physical chemical reactions in the brain. It goes without saying that the brain is just another organ, and physically a part of the human body.
It`s ok to stay sober
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Central NC
Posts: 20,908
very possible
my sponsor,uses the Big Book to sponsor some folks like you described,successfully thru the steps.
He just don`t tell them they are AA members and invite them to a AA meeting.He does it as a recovered alcoholic and not as a member of any group.
so far he has sponsored Sex addicts,alcoholics,addicts,over eaters,6 food addicts that I know of.
it is our job to do what he is doing
The American Medical Association classifies alcoholism as a mental illness so officially it's a disease. I suppose it's a disease in the same way that depression and bipolar disorder are diseases. Call it a spiritual malady, that's fine too. Whatever helps. In the end it only matters that I don't drink today
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: « USA » Recovered with AVRT (Rational Recovery) ___________
Posts: 3,680
Do you even know what the AMA is? What it does? How many doctors actually belong to it? It is, above all, a lobby, and by its own figures, only represents about 29 percent of licensed U.S. doctors.
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