Notices

Alcoholism disease concept

Thread Tools
 
Old 04-29-2012, 06:24 AM
  # 61 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 142
Originally Posted by UpperbucksAAguy View Post
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:
This is not in the Big Book, this is from a speech Bill W. gave in 1961. Unfortunately at that time he was taking mind-bending drugs, so the Big Book has priority over that speech.

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.
jojoba is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 07:25 AM
  # 62 (permalink)  
Member
 
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.
Charmie is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 09:18 AM
  # 63 (permalink)  
Member
 
Mark75's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,947
Originally Posted by jojoba View Post
Wrong. She was born with the spiritual disease, so even before she ever takes a drink, she's still an alcoholic.
Wow... I don't even know where to start... So I won't, but that is a statement that trivializes, well, both spirituality and alcoholism.
Mark75 is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 10:10 AM
  # 64 (permalink)  
1000 Post Club
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Midwest USA
Posts: 2,284
Originally Posted by jojoba View Post
Wrong. She was born with the spiritual disease, so even before she ever takes a drink, she's still an alcoholic.
Some of the things I've read from you are quite scary.
Justfor1 is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 03:02 PM
  # 65 (permalink)  
Member
 
CaiHong's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,308
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
CaiHong is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 03:15 PM
  # 66 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Dee74's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,851
more posts were removed...lets stick to the topic guys

D
Dee74 is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 03:21 PM
  # 67 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location:   « USA »                       Recovered with AVRT  (Rational Recovery)  ___________
Posts: 3,680
Originally Posted by jojoba View Post
Wrong. She was born with the spiritual disease, so even before she ever takes a drink, she's still an alcoholic.
Although I don't concur, I have heard this in meetings before, so unlike others here, what you say does not surprise me at all. Regarding this mind vs brain/body thing, though, the mind, by which I mean one's thoughts, feelings, etc, is just an expression of the physical chemical reactions in the brain.

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.
Terminally Unique is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 04:10 PM
  # 68 (permalink)  
It`s ok to stay sober
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Central NC
Posts: 20,908
Originally Posted by omegasupreme View Post
Is it possible that the Ultimate Sickness, the inability to differentiate the true from the false, manifests in all humans? Is it possible that the external manifestation takes on different forms? Pills, booze, cheesecake, cutting, exercising, cleaning, sex...
absolutely Omega

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
Tommyh is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 04:23 PM
  # 69 (permalink)  
Member
 
NYCDoglvr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 6,262
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
NYCDoglvr is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 04:38 PM
  # 70 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location:   « USA »                       Recovered with AVRT  (Rational Recovery)  ___________
Posts: 3,680
Originally Posted by NYCDoglvr View Post
The American Medical Association classifies alcoholism as a mental illness so officially it's a disease.
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.
Terminally Unique is offline  
Old 04-29-2012, 05:42 PM
  # 71 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Dee74's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,851
OK...I think we'll leave it there.
Thread closed.

D
Dee74 is offline  

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off





All times are GMT -7. The time now is 12:48 PM.