DaveT

Alcoholics Anonymous and the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous are designed to treat Chronic Alcoholics.

deeker

agreed

Dee74

making topics stickies doesn't stop people asking the same questions.

I think each new thread brings with it new responses, and maybe new insights too
D

Justfor1

I believe this is the longest this type of thread has gone without getting locked. If it help you stay sober thinking alcoholism is a disease than that is great & I respect that. But my experience is that I used the disease concept as a way for other to feel sorry for me. When I watched Leaving Las Vegas for the first time I nearly cried. I was actually envious of hi situation. That is pretty crazy.

Strength11

In my opinion it is a progressive disease

Deckard

Any given disease can have multiple contributing causes and, potentially, more than one effective treatment. To me, saying it is a disease is the beginning of the conversation, not the end.

lillyknitting

Everyone down the pub's got a disease then, because they ALL drink to varying degrees. Read Allan cars book or Jason vale, they explain it clearly and precisely.

The only "cure" in my mind is don't drink.

caboblanco

You never heard someone in a meeting say "my disease" or "the disease" and before that phrase say "because of" I've heard it quite a few times and I don't even go to meetings anymore.

Joe Nerv

Of course I've heard people refer to this as "a disease", or "my disease" and make reference to that. I've never however heard someone actively drinking state that they're drinking because they have a disease that makes them drink.

GracieLou

Sick with what?

I was a well behaved quiet kid. I never stole and was not disrespectful. I did not drink until I was 18 but having blackouts by 19.

Off topic but I have been laughing at this for a good ten minutes so I had to post..LMAO!

caboblanco

If you go to a rehab, hospital or sober house etc, what is the recovery method used there? Most likely Twelve step. You or your insurance is paying for that. Of course I know Twelve step is free other than your dollar donation outside of a facility. The doctors who prescribe it make money off promoting it.

freshstart57

These pages are full of statements just like that. I hate to be specific here, as it would be tantamount to an invasion of privacy, but you can find them if you look too.

If you look at the amount of funding that the rehab biz receives, you will be seeing the direct result and the intended result of this whole disease label. Mary Mann and the other early adopters saw this as the primary goal - obtaining public and insurance funding for addiction treatment. Her partner in this lobby effort, a guy named R. Brinkley Smithers, was trying to get funds for his own rehab center. It is still in operation and doing very well.

DarkDays

Someone explain to me why drinking chronically is labelled a disease but smoking 40 cigges a day killing yourself and knowing your killing yourself slowly is not labelled a disease ? Addiction, just everyone at different stages of the addiction process and some worse than others I think.

Carlotta

Thank you Joe! I am with you on that one. I am not sure if it s a disease, a behavioral problem or a mental disorder and I really don t care. What I know is that I cannot drink no matter what, what I do is I don t drink and I work on my recovery. If believing that alcoholism was caused by a curse cast by the Easter bunny helped people recover, I d be cool with that too.

Zencat

These periodic discussion on one verses the other - choice vs. powerlessness vs. disease vs. disorder vs. spiritual malady, looks to be a case of Let me Google "The Blind Men and the Elephant" for you to me or maybe not to you. I only know a little.

feldknocker

I don't believe I have a disease. I believe my drinking problem was the result of:
- Personality type - I tend to overindulge and can become ritualized with things very easily
- Envirironment - I grew up in a setting where heavy drinking was part of life.
- Genes - This blends the first two.


I tend to be a very sensitive person. I think alcohol was a perfect fit for someone like me who was trying to manage life's challenges. My way of doing things led me to see intoxication as the only purpose in drinking. I loved the feeling of getting incoxicated (more than the feeling of finally being there). It made me forget the present and feel better about whateve.

I don't think I have a disease. Alcoholic drinking was a natural next step for a character like me - just like overeating or problem gambling is for the next guy.

choublak

I never understood why some people say alcoholism is "just like cancer".

ru12

I'm just speculating, but perhaps because SOME people don't want to take responsibility for their behavior? It is somehow comforting casting oneself as a victim of a disease instead of someone that brought this on oneself by irresponsible drinking. I know that I am responsible for what I put into my mouth. I control my hands. Nothing and no one ever held me down and poured alcohol down my piehole. I did that.

I think the reason why some institutions like Hazelden and its ilk lobby so aggressively to have alcoholism labeled as a disease is to put insurance companies on the hook for their outrageous bill. Most drunks I knew didn't have a few tens-of-thousands of dollars laying around to pay for theatment. Insurance companies have deep pockets.

TrixMixer

I have to wonder..."What Difference Does It Make What We Call It"

choublak

Most of the alcoholics featured in that have a whole salad bar full of problems, alcoholism happening to be one of them.