Disease?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 28
Disease?
This is a topic I go around and around with myself about..whether alcoholism is a disease or lack of discipline. It always kinda irritates me to hear people discuss this topic who have never had problems with alcohol so I'm curious to hear some experienced people's opinions. I have relatively decent/average self-discipline in relation to most everything, but alcohol is in its own category. There are some days I lean towards viewing it as a disease but then some days where I feel like I'm not trying hard enough. Thoughts?
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,552
In my opinion, it's an addictive substance. Period. Like cigarettes. Some may never get addicted, some it takes longer and some immediately. All those paths your brain has, then become altered, the chemistry changed, causing your survival system to think it needs this to survive. When the liver processes alcohol it turns it into a "safer" addictive substance. So you are battling two evils. It's a poison. It messes with the chemicals in your brain. Your body sees it as such. That's why it taste terrible. Your first drink more than likely was not palatable. That's why you throw up when you have had to much. The body is trying to get the poison out. That's my thoughts.
Guest
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 315
Originally Posted by countrygirl2014 
In my opinion, it's an addictive substance. Period. Like cigarettes. Some may never get addicted, some it takes longer and some immediately. All those paths your brain has, then become altered, the chemistry changed, causing your survival system to think it needs this to survive. When the liver processes alcohol it turns it into a "safer" addictive substance. So you are battling two evils. It's a poison. It messes with the chemicals in your brain. Your body sees it as such. That's why it taste terrible. Your first drink more than likely was not palatable. That's why you throw up when you have had to much. The body is trying to get the poison out. That's my thoughts.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: New Orleans, LA
Posts: 985
Read the sticky in the alcoholism section "excerpts from under the influence." I haven't read the book, but was really blown away by the excerpts, as they explain the physiological response of the body to alcohol. Having read them, for the very first time I believe the disease model.
I am a highly self disciplined person in many aspects of my life. I am also an alcoholic. It made no sense to me. I was particularly confused by AA's spiritual solution, because if it is a disease, it wouldn't have a spiritual solution. You can't pray away cancer (well, some folks feel they can, but that's another story). What I now understand is that you have to STOP DRINKING ALCOHOL (that is the physical cure for the disease, because it is a maladaptive physical reaction to a particular substance). THEN, you can use a spiritual model (or other methods) to develop new living skills and to support the self discipline necessary to maintain abstinence. But it is abstinence which "cures" the disease of alcoholism.
That helped me to balance concepts of will power and disease.
I am a highly self disciplined person in many aspects of my life. I am also an alcoholic. It made no sense to me. I was particularly confused by AA's spiritual solution, because if it is a disease, it wouldn't have a spiritual solution. You can't pray away cancer (well, some folks feel they can, but that's another story). What I now understand is that you have to STOP DRINKING ALCOHOL (that is the physical cure for the disease, because it is a maladaptive physical reaction to a particular substance). THEN, you can use a spiritual model (or other methods) to develop new living skills and to support the self discipline necessary to maintain abstinence. But it is abstinence which "cures" the disease of alcoholism.
That helped me to balance concepts of will power and disease.
Forum Leader
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
I personally don't think it really matters what you call it. It was more important for me to simply accept that I cannot control my drinking. I have also accepted that it's very probable that I will never know why i cannot control it. I prefer to focus my efforts on how to live my life free of alcohol to the fullest extent possible - which has a far higher potential than when I was drinking.
To me personally, continually wrestling with the reason "why" I am an alcoholic always led me to find justification that I WASN'T an alcoholic and quickly returned to drinking.
To me personally, continually wrestling with the reason "why" I am an alcoholic always led me to find justification that I WASN'T an alcoholic and quickly returned to drinking.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Rhode Island
Posts: 443
I (my opinion only) do not think substance abuse of any kind is a disease. That said, if viewing substance abuse as a disease helps anyone to stop and stay stopped, then have at it.
Either way one chooses to look at it, why should anyone else care?
Either way one chooses to look at it, why should anyone else care?
Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Grayslake, IL
Posts: 732
I don't view alcoholism as a disease, just as I don't view obesity as a disease. I'm an alcoholic because I'm addicted to alcohol. I can choose not to pick up my first drink and therefore not feed my addiction.
I think one problem with categorizing conditions like addiction as a disease-state is that it gives some addicts an excuse to justify their use. "I used/drank/x, I couldn't help it. I have a disease." You can help it, you have to want to help yourself.
That's all, this topic could totally open up a big can of worms. Good topic, though!
Bunnez
I think one problem with categorizing conditions like addiction as a disease-state is that it gives some addicts an excuse to justify their use. "I used/drank/x, I couldn't help it. I have a disease." You can help it, you have to want to help yourself.
That's all, this topic could totally open up a big can of worms. Good topic, though!
Bunnez
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,476
I don't believe that alcoholism is a character defect.
I believe it's a disease.
The American Medical Association (AMA) had declared that alcoholism was an illness in 1956. In 1991, The AMA further endorsed the dual classification of alcoholism by the International Classification of Diseases under both psychiatric and medical sections.
I believe it's a disease.
The American Medical Association (AMA) had declared that alcoholism was an illness in 1956. In 1991, The AMA further endorsed the dual classification of alcoholism by the International Classification of Diseases under both psychiatric and medical sections.
Guest
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Michigan
Posts: 772
I used to not buy the whole "this is an incurable disease" thing but as I've moved further into my recovery I thought well then why can't I have just a few drinks like everybody else? There must be something different about me. Well I am an alcoholic...but I'm also a drug addict too if I feel like doing drugs instead. So if being an alcoholic isn't an incurable disease what is it? I have a very addictive personality. What I do know is that there is something different about me...whether it's classified as a disease or not there is something wrong with me that doesn't allow me to drink in moderation. I don't think this will ever change nor do I care. I am a smart person and if drinking always causes me embarrassment and negative consequences in my life why would I ever want to go back to this again? I know that I am an alcoholic so I chose not to drink.
Just another day...
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 274
A couple years ago I was taking a psychology class and there was a brief section on addiction and how the brain functions on it. They said it is a disease. I wish I could remember all that I read. I didn't keep the book, I had rented it. But it talked about addicts brains not making certain chemicals that normal people have that keep them from being an addict. There was more to it and it made complete sense. However, to some that can open the door for the excuse to continue to feed the addiction..not their fault...its a disease. Like I can see obesity being a disease with the fact that our brain on sugar reacts the same was as our brain on cocaine( saw that in the movie Fed up). While I do believe addiction is a disease whether it is food, alcohol, drugs, even sex. I do think saying it is a disease has opened the door for excuses so people can sit back and keep feeding their addiction. Not their fault, out of their control. I think its a disease that can be battled and won, you just need the tools to fight it and change your way of thinking. Type 2 diabetes is a disease that can be overcome if you get your weight into check and get control of your food/alcohol intake. Addictions are hard, as we all know, to get over. But thats just my opinion from things that I have read and seen.
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 13,560
I tend to think of it as a disease that you treat the symptoms. There are other diseases that are like that to.
So, you have anxiety and you drink. Treat the anxiety.
You have a bad relationship so you drink. Go to counseling, work on the relationship. Determine if it's bad because of the drink or b/c of something else.
You have underlying mental illness so you drink. Get help for dual diagnosis so you can work on both.
That is just my take on it. I am not an alcoholic, but have recently admitted to having a food addiction. Please don't make fun.....take a look at sugar addiction. While it may not put you in jail like drinking can, it still has major health ramifications. So, now I am looking at the WHY behind this.
I believe everyone has some sort of vice or addiction, it's just different for different people. For myself, finding out why I do what I do and working on that is the solution.
Thank you for posting, this has made me think a lot. It has also made me have a lot more empathy to others dealing with different addictions.
So, you have anxiety and you drink. Treat the anxiety.
You have a bad relationship so you drink. Go to counseling, work on the relationship. Determine if it's bad because of the drink or b/c of something else.
You have underlying mental illness so you drink. Get help for dual diagnosis so you can work on both.
That is just my take on it. I am not an alcoholic, but have recently admitted to having a food addiction. Please don't make fun.....take a look at sugar addiction. While it may not put you in jail like drinking can, it still has major health ramifications. So, now I am looking at the WHY behind this.
I believe everyone has some sort of vice or addiction, it's just different for different people. For myself, finding out why I do what I do and working on that is the solution.
Thank you for posting, this has made me think a lot. It has also made me have a lot more empathy to others dealing with different addictions.
Just another day...
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 274
I went back and read some of the stickys heartcore was talking about. Wow. Heres some of it:
"Physiology, not psychology, determines whether one drinker will become addicted to acohol and another will not. The alcoholic's enzymes, hormones, genes, and brain chemistry work together to create his abnormal and unfortunate reaction to alcohol."
__________________
*
"Page 35 & Others
(I'm going to grab a few things here and there starting on page 35)
Acetaldehyde, the intermediate byproduct of alcohol metabolism, appears to be one of the major villians in the onset of alcoholic drinking. The trouble probably begins in the liver ...
... found that the same amount of alcohol produced very different blood acetaldehyde levels in alcoholics and nonalcoholics. Much higher levels were reached in alcoholics. Lieber theorized that this unusual buildup of acetaldehyde was caused in part by a malfunctioning of the liver's enzymes.
... took this acetaldehyde difference in alcoholics one step further. His studies confirmed that, in alcoholics, the breakdown of acetaldehyde into acetate -- the second step in alcohol metabolism -- is performed at about half the rate of "normal" i.e. nonalcoholic metabolism. It is this slowdown in metabolism which apparently causes acetaldehyde to accumulate.
... Heredity is clearly implicated in these studies ...
In summary, addiction to alcohol may, in part, be traced back to a liver enzyme malfunction which results in a buildup of acetaldehyde throughout the body. In the brain, these large amounts of acetaldehyde interact with the brain amines to create the isoquinolines. These mischievous substances may trigger the alcoholic's need to drink more and more alcohol to counter the painful effects of the progressive buildup of acetaldehyde.
... Accumulated evidence clearly indicates that alcoholism is hereditary ...
... The weight of evidence clearly links alcoholism to heredity ...
Goodwin's studies provide compelling evidence that alcoholics do not drink addictively because they are depressed, lonely, immature, or dissatisfied. They drink addictively because they have inherited a physical susceptibility to alcohol which results in addiction if they drink.
Furthermore, this evidence has profound implications for treatment. While it may be possible to teach the problem drinker how to drink in a more responsible way, the alcoholic's drinking is controlled by physiological factors which cannot be altered through psychological methods such as counseling, threats, punishment, or reward.
In other words, the alcoholic is powerless to control his reaction to alcohol."
__________________
"Physiology, not psychology, determines whether one drinker will become addicted to acohol and another will not. The alcoholic's enzymes, hormones, genes, and brain chemistry work together to create his abnormal and unfortunate reaction to alcohol."
__________________
*
"Page 35 & Others
(I'm going to grab a few things here and there starting on page 35)
Acetaldehyde, the intermediate byproduct of alcohol metabolism, appears to be one of the major villians in the onset of alcoholic drinking. The trouble probably begins in the liver ...
... found that the same amount of alcohol produced very different blood acetaldehyde levels in alcoholics and nonalcoholics. Much higher levels were reached in alcoholics. Lieber theorized that this unusual buildup of acetaldehyde was caused in part by a malfunctioning of the liver's enzymes.
... took this acetaldehyde difference in alcoholics one step further. His studies confirmed that, in alcoholics, the breakdown of acetaldehyde into acetate -- the second step in alcohol metabolism -- is performed at about half the rate of "normal" i.e. nonalcoholic metabolism. It is this slowdown in metabolism which apparently causes acetaldehyde to accumulate.
... Heredity is clearly implicated in these studies ...
In summary, addiction to alcohol may, in part, be traced back to a liver enzyme malfunction which results in a buildup of acetaldehyde throughout the body. In the brain, these large amounts of acetaldehyde interact with the brain amines to create the isoquinolines. These mischievous substances may trigger the alcoholic's need to drink more and more alcohol to counter the painful effects of the progressive buildup of acetaldehyde.
... Accumulated evidence clearly indicates that alcoholism is hereditary ...
... The weight of evidence clearly links alcoholism to heredity ...
Goodwin's studies provide compelling evidence that alcoholics do not drink addictively because they are depressed, lonely, immature, or dissatisfied. They drink addictively because they have inherited a physical susceptibility to alcohol which results in addiction if they drink.
Furthermore, this evidence has profound implications for treatment. While it may be possible to teach the problem drinker how to drink in a more responsible way, the alcoholic's drinking is controlled by physiological factors which cannot be altered through psychological methods such as counseling, threats, punishment, or reward.
In other words, the alcoholic is powerless to control his reaction to alcohol."
__________________
Just another day...
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 274
Here's a link to what I was reading
Excerpts "Under The Influence" - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html
Excerpts "Under The Influence" - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
