dogandbooklover

This is something I have often wondered about. So many people say and believe that addiction is a disease. I have a hard time with this.

I have various family members, blood-related, that are addicted to one thing or another. You name it, someone in my family has an addiction to it. But these same family members have siblings (me included), parents, grandparents, who have no such deviations. Even so, I do think it's a bit more likely that addiction can be genetic though that doesn't necessarily make it a disease.

I don't put addiction in the same category as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Though certain addictions can certainly CAUSE these diseases.

Drinking alcohol, using drugs, having promiscuous sex, whatever the addiction me be, well, these things are choices. Yes, a person's body can become physically affected and then you NEED the drug of your choice, but it all started when that person CHOSE to have a beer, or a hit, or a cigarette or whatever.

I guess I just could never equate something like cancer with alcoholism. Am I the only one who thinks this way?

best

I made a choice to drink that first beer. I did not make a choice to become addicted to my behaviors that the beer drinking causes.
It may start out as a choice but it does move into a disease state for many.

embraced2000

i wish i knew the answer to this one, too. i struggle with the same questions you have.

i understand that alcohol can be addictive. however, the behaviors that accompany the addiction???? the crushing of so many people???? other people that have diseases don't behave this way....except the mentally ill, maybe.

i'm addicted to things.....cigs, coffee, others.....but i don't walk away from my family in order to keep my addiction. i don't abuse people to keep my addiction, i don't loose jobs, i am a productive member in society, i raised my children and am a good parent and grandparent, i have maintained life long friendships.

sometimes, i just don't get it either, dbl......i do understand that it is an addiction......i don't understand the things it makes them do.

if a person finds out they have a disease, they usually do all they can to take care of the disease....take meds, take treatments, eat right, do what the doctor ordered.....seems like alcoholism would be the most easiest to treat because all you have to do is quit drinking.

all the rest is just a mind thing. so maybe it's not so much the alocholism, as the mind thing.

just my thoughts and experiences....i wish i knew the answers.

Serenity_Seeker

I have to say that I, also, fall into the group that believes "drug usage" is a choice!

Having said that...I believe it is the "side effect of the drug", that causes the addiction; and flaws in cognitive thinking and behavior, which allow the addiction, to continue.

The "ability" to choose sobriety, is always there; but it must be coupled with the "desire", to recognize and stop, the chaos.

I believe as long as my RAS is walking and breathing....one day at a time....he has a choice!

SORRY TO HAVE BUTTED IN....I WAS LOST!
Thought I was in the Family and Friends of Substance Abuse....but then.....

michski

I sure embraced the disease theory in early recovery. I mean it was real comforting to have a no blame explanation for it all.

Science is learning more and more about how our brains work.. pretty amazing discoveries about how are brains are wired for most of the people in the world and then, how they're wired for those prone to addiction, extreme sports, and other really unattractive stuff I don't even want to think about.

So, my parents were addicts and all my brother's and sisters and nieces and nephews are dealing with addiction or even dead from it. I can't bother myself with whether or not it's a "disease" but I know for sure it's a syndrome and I have it!

Doctors think we're stupid, so they give us expressions like "disease" and "allergy". I think some are educated enough to use "predisposed", regardless of what they call it there's not one reason on earth that you can't turn it all around, get clean and sober and NOT pass those traits on to your own children.

embraced2000

in times of anger, i've often thought.....how convenient to blame ones behavior on a "disease".....

the physical craving for the alcohol is out of the system within 48 hours....after that, it's all about the head thing....so i was told by the alcohol and substance abuse counselor.

i also wonder if labeling alcoholism as a disease doesn't give the alcoholic kind of carte blanche to continue their behaviors.

this may offend some people....but these, and many more questions like them, swirl around in my head quite frequently.

i have also wondered if labeling it a disease, doesn't somehow make those that love the alcoholic feel somewhat better about staying in the alcoholic situation.

jmho and queries

jeri

queenteree

I never used to believe that alcoholism was a disease. I thought it was an addiction and the word "disease" was a cop out. Now I disagree. Like said above, some people are genetically "predisposed" to alcoholism. The chemical make up of their brains are different. They may make the choice to take that first beer, but no one would certainly make the choice to live the way an alcoholic lives, to destroy their lives, families, health. My AH is a good, loving man, a good husband and father, who provided for us very well over the years. He met me as a single mom with three kids and no exhusband in sight (no child support, visitation, nothing). He was drinking heavily at the time, yet he provided so well that I was a stay at home mom until my youngest went to school. Unfortunately, I couldn't live with his drinking any longer, put myself though business school so I could have skills to get a job, got myself a job and threw my AH out of the house (we weren't married at the time, just lived together). My AH got help for his drinking, we got married and he was sober for over 14 years. He picked up again after he got hurt at work, and spiraled downhill since. He has health issues where if he continues drinking, he will die within 5 years, yet he continues to drink. I know this is not a choice he would make for himself. I know he wants to live for me and his family, but unfortunately alcohol takes over. Alcoholics know they are out of control, wake up regretting what they did or said and vow not to drink again, but by noon, the craving kicks in and it starts all over again. I believe that is why so many alcoholics are depressed. It's a never ending struggle for them. If you read Under the Influence, it certainly explains alot. I recommend it.

Pick-a-name

This is what I was going to say,also.

Have you seen the new infomercial online about nicotine addiction? This is a variation of the same thing,too.

After a certain point, it is more than just a simple "choice" and evidently only about 10%-15% of the population CAN become alcoholic due to a phyical difference.

WantsOut

I think alcoholism comes in three forms:

1) Someone drinks too much but they could stop easily if they truly decided to. This is not a disease phase.

2) Someone drinks too much and is obsessed with it, is in denial, hurts people, etc. They could stop with determination, AA, and maybe some therapy. This is also not a disease phase. This is where my exAH is.

3) Person is physically addicted to alcohol, gets the shakes, hallucinates, can die from unsupervised detox. This is the disease phase in which medical treatment is required.

That's how I arbitrarily defined it.

CrushedbyCrack

I like Wants Out's view on it.

I am like number one. I have an occasional drink, but is not something I ever crave, and I know when to stop. Usually a half a beer gets me drunk...yeah, I'm a light weight.

My AH is number two (his main addiction however is crack). He is not so far gone that he couldn't get out if he wanted. I don't think he has a disease, but I do think he needs to be taught how to deal with life circumstances. He uses alcohol and drugs to cope.

His best friend and co-worker is number three. This man drinks from the time he wakes to the time he sleeps. He wakes up drunk. It is beyond me why he hasn't fallen off the roof yet (he's a roofer). The doctors have told him that if he quits drinking, he will die...his organs will fail, because all they know is the alcohol. He has tried to quit before, but after a day, he gets the shakes, goes into withdrawal, etc. He needs professional help to detox. He has a disease!

JMO...sorry to intrude on this forum...I'll go back to the family and friends of substance abuse now.

mike_mass

To me this argument is of the "how many angels can stand on a pin" variety. Call it what you want, but alcoholism kills a lot of people and it almost killed me.

CatsTail

Drug usage is choice for some who can use recreationally. Unfortunately I don't fall into that category, my choice moved into disease.

Ngaire

MsPINKAcres

I wondered like many if the "disease" was an excuse also. But I was in so much pain - I start going to Al-Anon meetings & open AA meetings - trying to keep an open mind.

At an open AA meeting (a birthday celebration) I met a wonderful woman prior to the meeting. A very dignified, elegant elderly woman - full of grace, love and respect. She was the picture of class. I thought to myself - she must be someone's wife or mom here for the birthday night. Much to my surprise - she was there celebrating 20 something yrs of sobriety. She told a little of her story - what she was like before recovery. She had the same types of behavior as my alcoholic/addict husband. That is when the light came on for me that I understand this as a disease that knows no boundaries. No respector of gender, age, social status, financial security, race or any other defining aspect. Sounds like a disease to me.

Does that mean I have to tolerate the unhealthy behaviors? No. Maybe the disease doesn't have boundaries but I can.

Just my understanding of alcoholism.
Rita

FormerDoormat

"seems like alcoholism would be the most easiest to treat because all you have to do is quit drinking."

Let's apply this theory to overeaters like me: If all I had to do to lose weight and stay thin for life was to eat less, then why has obesity been a life-long struggle for me as well as 50% of Americans these days? Goodness knows, I've denied myself food for 46 years now and exercised myself into oblivion and still haul around an oversized body.

Nobody chooses to be overweight. Nobody chooses to be an alcoholic. Both of these conditions are deemed unacceptable by those of us lucky enough to be free of these maladies, and both of these conditions are deemed unacceptable by we addicts as well (whatever our addiction may be).

For us, choice has been taken out of the equation. Try as we might, we can't seem to choose otherwise or will away what ails us. Perhaps it's a mental or emotional disorder, perhaps it's an endochrine disorder, perhaps it's just genetic, but when free will goes out the window, it's much more than simply a choice.

Do you think folks who suffer from mental illness have a disease/disorder or that they're "just weak?" Why can some of us take that first drink then walk away when others become hopelessly addicted on the first try?

Alcohol has no hold over me. I could care less if I ever have another drink again. In fact, I haven't had a drink in years. But food is a completely different story. It's the first thing on my mind when I wake up in the morning and the last thing on my mind when my head hits the pillow. Try as I might to overcome this battle, it beats me down every single day.

Am I out of control? I can control every other aspect of my behavior. Am I weak? I think folks don't come much stronger than me.

If overcoming addiction or the addiction we codies have to our addict partners was as simple as making better choices, then none of us would be here and none of us would be struggling.

Disease or a choice you ask? When you lack the ability to choose what's good for you over what's not, then something is physically and emotionally amiss. And that, my friends, is MY definition of disease.

dontcareinmi

It doesn't matter if you call it a disease or a choice - recovery is a choice and it is up to the individual to make that choice to recover.

celebraterecovery.com

embraced2000

ok....help me understand some more....if you or i overeat, the effects of overeating does not cause us to abuse people, abandon our families, or get arrested for behaviors resluting in overeating.

i understand why you are saying that alcoholism is a disease....and i want to believe that, too. i don't want to be angry with the alcoholic in my life for doing the things he has done, and continues to do.

i do believe it to a certain degree....i do believe in the physilogical predisposition to alcoholism, i do believe it is addicting, i do believe it is hard to overcome......but why does alcoholsim as an addiction turn people into such different people....the abuse, the hatred for self and others, the lawlessness......other addictions such as food, cigs, don't change our selves so much that we cannot function in everyday life.....doesn't cause us to abuse other people.

i really want to understand this....i don't so much think it is a weakness, as it is a choice....and yes, i do believe that addicts make the choice to remain active until they choose not to.

i do believe that they choose to stay in the disease. i'm not saying that makes them weak, i'm saying they are making the choice.

jeri

GirlInterrupted

Your right, people do have the choice to pick up the first beer or first try drugs. And you can't catigorize it with cancer because they are two completely different things. But a cold is a sickness, not as severe as cancer but does that make it not an illness? Same goes with over eating or under eating eating, depression and many other illnesses.

When it comes to alcohol i think people see how happy others are when they drink, they then decide to try it, feel good for a little while, and then need to feed that emotion not neccersarly what the acohol. They believe that acohol is there emotion and they cant feel certain things with out it. but that is just my personal exsperiance from watching my bioligical father && step dad go threw it. They are so blind to the truth, that the only real truth to them is there acohol or drugs.

From my first hand exsepriance, i am accually addicted to losing weight. It's not like cancer at all, but could kill me && does affect my body and mind severly. I think when it comes to the fact as calling an addiction a disease it accually depends on the person who it's affecting. For instence; there are people who do drugs for years, go to treatment and don't need it anymore. But then there are those who do drugs 3 times and withing months there whole life revolves around it and they go to treatment and still can't get out. Every person is different. So addiction will effect them all differently. Just how when someone has cancer depending on there body will depend on how well they respond to treatment.

I am not very well education when it comes to this topic, so thats about all i can say about it with what i know.

FormerDoormat

Well, just as overeating leads to other health issues such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes, excessive alcohol intake damages the frontal lobe of the brain and leads to the behavioral changes we've come to associate with alcoholics.

BSPGirl

Not to be harsh but you're totally in control of the amount of food you put in your mouth, so it's all very debatable imo. Now on to the next question: does it really matter? To me it doesn't. I never got involved in the whole 'disease or not' argument. SMART Recovery says it's no disease and I tend to agree cuz they make a lot of sense usually.

Marte

FormerDoormat

You know, Marte, I get really tired of folks who participate in SR not recognizing or accepting the fact that overeating is an addiction or at least showing some compassion for folks who struggle with this disorder. I guess being unkind to folks who suffer from obesity is the last acceptable predjudice. Only it's not acceptable in my opinion. Comments like this on a forum devoted to addiction are unnecessary.