Is alcoholism realy a "disease" ? I didn't get a medical test of any sort.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 80
Is alcoholism realy a "disease" ? I didn't get a medical test of any sort.
I think its more like poison ivy, I only get bad effects when I touch the stuff.
After I touch the alcohol, I get this "itch" to keep touching it like the poison ivy rash.
Does this make any sence ?
After I touch the alcohol, I get this "itch" to keep touching it like the poison ivy rash.
Does this make any sence ?
Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Clinton, MT
Posts: 255
Well, I don't think it really matters but I understand it as a two-fold disease.
1)an "allergy" of the body...in other words...for whatever reason, my body does not process alcohol like a "normal" person
2)an "obsession" of the mind....in other words...I have an overwhelming obsession to consume alcohol despite negative consequences
The problem with this malady is that, for some reason, after a period of abstinence (a day, week, year, decade...) the obsession will sneak back in and cause me to "forget" that I am allergic.
Its pretty simple really. I you need a medical "test", I'm sure some expensive psychiatrist can hook you up though....
All the best.
1)an "allergy" of the body...in other words...for whatever reason, my body does not process alcohol like a "normal" person
2)an "obsession" of the mind....in other words...I have an overwhelming obsession to consume alcohol despite negative consequences
The problem with this malady is that, for some reason, after a period of abstinence (a day, week, year, decade...) the obsession will sneak back in and cause me to "forget" that I am allergic.
Its pretty simple really. I you need a medical "test", I'm sure some expensive psychiatrist can hook you up though....
All the best.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 80
Thats it , ""MIND"" . The mind is an action like but the brain is a thing.
There is a persistant myth that having alcoholism means I have a "brain disease".
There is no test for any of this mental/mind stuff they call brain to make it medical sounding.
Somehow the idea of a sick mind sounds alot worse but I think thats what it realy is.
There is a persistant myth that having alcoholism means I have a "brain disease".
There is no test for any of this mental/mind stuff they call brain to make it medical sounding.
Somehow the idea of a sick mind sounds alot worse but I think thats what it realy is.
~sb
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: MD
Posts: 15,964
National Institutes of Health have studies all of the time. There is one now for quitting drinking, it's 5 weeks long and they pay you. They also may pay for transportation there. They advertise in the subway newspapers all of the time. Getting paid to detox....Coolio!
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
i have cancer, which are diseases. melanoma to be precise. it doesnt get classified as cured or in remission. just not active. it can rear its ugly head and start to destroy my body and mind at any time, but i am powerless over it.
i am an alcoholic, which i believe is a disease. at this time it is not active. however, if i chose to pick up a drink it can rear its ugly head and destroy my body and mind.
doc silkworth worked with thousands upon thousands of alcoholics over his time. when someone who has worked with as many alcoholics as he, i agree. just as i believe my oncologist who has worked with thousands of patients with melanoma says melanoma is a disease, i agree with him.
i am an alcoholic, which i believe is a disease. at this time it is not active. however, if i chose to pick up a drink it can rear its ugly head and destroy my body and mind.
doc silkworth worked with thousands upon thousands of alcoholics over his time. when someone who has worked with as many alcoholics as he, i agree. just as i believe my oncologist who has worked with thousands of patients with melanoma says melanoma is a disease, i agree with him.
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Grateful to be free
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Arizona
Posts: 3,680
I was married to a scientist for ages.
Growing up, living things were catagorized as either plants or animals.
When I got into high school, scientists had added another category. Protists.
Later, my scientist husband (he was one of those who studied which category living things belong to) told me that there were new additional categories. That upon further study, it seemed that certain things had certain qualities that made them worthy to be classified as their own thing, rather than try to squash them into a category where they didn't fit.
After all, these categories are descriptions that people made to help us organize and understand things.
I posit this...addiction is it's own category.
I don't NEED to classify it as a disease, a disorder, a moral failing, an allergy, because it really has some unique charcteristics. If I allow it to have it's own category, with it's own set of characteristics and treatments, I can move on without obsessing whether it is this, that or another thing. It's addiction, and these are some ways people have found useful in managing it.
I don't like the two party system of government because I think a lot of really important issues fall through the cracks while people are focusing on Dem or Rebub "issues"
i feel the same way about whether or not addiction is a disease or not. That argument can be interesting, but it can also distract me from some real important issues.
Categories, labels, definitions are man made, and we can make another one that is more accurate and defined any time we choose, and any time doing so allows us to move forward.
Growing up, living things were catagorized as either plants or animals.
When I got into high school, scientists had added another category. Protists.
Later, my scientist husband (he was one of those who studied which category living things belong to) told me that there were new additional categories. That upon further study, it seemed that certain things had certain qualities that made them worthy to be classified as their own thing, rather than try to squash them into a category where they didn't fit.
After all, these categories are descriptions that people made to help us organize and understand things.
I posit this...addiction is it's own category.
I don't NEED to classify it as a disease, a disorder, a moral failing, an allergy, because it really has some unique charcteristics. If I allow it to have it's own category, with it's own set of characteristics and treatments, I can move on without obsessing whether it is this, that or another thing. It's addiction, and these are some ways people have found useful in managing it.
I don't like the two party system of government because I think a lot of really important issues fall through the cracks while people are focusing on Dem or Rebub "issues"
i feel the same way about whether or not addiction is a disease or not. That argument can be interesting, but it can also distract me from some real important issues.
Categories, labels, definitions are man made, and we can make another one that is more accurate and defined any time we choose, and any time doing so allows us to move forward.
Member of SMART Recovery
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,722
I actually find it interesting that we classify addiction of a disease...but don't approach its treatment in the same way we approach the treatment of any other disease.
This addiction thing is full of contradictions.
But my hope is and continues to be that as time goes on, people continue to become more and more open minded regarding recovery approaches. I find evidence that this is happening right here on SR.
This addiction thing is full of contradictions.
But my hope is and continues to be that as time goes on, people continue to become more and more open minded regarding recovery approaches. I find evidence that this is happening right here on SR.
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Originally Posted by Threshold 
I posit this...addiction is it's own category.
I don't NEED to classify it as a disease, a disorder, a moral failing, an allergy, because it really has some unique charcteristics. If I allow it to have it's own category, with it's own set of characteristics and treatments, I can move on without obsessing whether it is this, that or another thing. It's addiction, and these are some ways people have found useful in managing it.
I don't NEED to classify it as a disease, a disorder, a moral failing, an allergy, because it really has some unique charcteristics. If I allow it to have it's own category, with it's own set of characteristics and treatments, I can move on without obsessing whether it is this, that or another thing. It's addiction, and these are some ways people have found useful in managing it.
(Bertrand Russell)
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,193
I think of it as a mental disease/condition that can have physical side effects... similar to depression. I have read that alcoholic drinking actually changes our brains. It affects our brain cells and ways of thinking and clearly it affects the body. Also it is emotional in that alcoholics start having more and more "alcoholic behavior"... a big facet of the "disease" or whatever you want to call it is denial, and in my opinion it actually changes a person's personality by making them do whatever it takes to keep drinking-- they become inherently selfish, illogical, self-destructive, destructive towards others-- basically they do things they never would do if they were sober, all to stay in denial and protect their alcoholic coping mechanisms.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,937
Originally Posted by James007
I think its more like poison ivy, I only get bad effects when I touch the stuff.
After I touch the alcohol, I get this "itch" to keep touching it like the poison ivy rash.
Does this make any sence ?
After I touch the alcohol, I get this "itch" to keep touching it like the poison ivy rash.
Does this make any sence ?
We believe, and so suggested a few years ago, that the action of alcohol on these chronic alcoholics is a manifestation of an allergy; that the phenomenon of craving is limited to this class and never occurs in the average temperate drinker. These allergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all; and once having formed the habit and found they cannot break it, once having lost their self-confidence, their reliance upon things human, their problems pile up on them and become astonishingly difficult to solve.
I looked like that holdin beer
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 627
Originally Posted by James007
I think its more like poison ivy, I only get bad effects when I touch the stuff.
After I touch the alcohol, I get this "itch" to keep touching it like the poison ivy rash.
Does this make any sence ?
After I touch the alcohol, I get this "itch" to keep touching it like the poison ivy rash.
Does this make any sence ?
Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 47
I know this may rub alot of posters the wrong way....but I beleive some people want it classified as a disease, so that they do not have to account for their actions. Just like smokers that get lung cancer get a bad rap, but non-smokers with other types of cancer get pity.
I chose to drink, I made that decision, maybe I didn't get far enough into the addiction that I felt out of control and that drinking was no longer a choice? I can't answer that!
I chose to drink, I made that decision, maybe I didn't get far enough into the addiction that I felt out of control and that drinking was no longer a choice? I can't answer that!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,937
Originally Posted by spydermary
I know this may rub alot of posters the wrong way....but I beleive some people want it classified as a disease, so that they do not have to account for their actions. Just like smokers that get lung cancer get a bad rap, but non-smokers with other types of cancer get pity.
!
!
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
