Ironhorse1

I've been hanging around these forms for a couple weeks. I haven't got sober yet, but I'm on the journey and I'm well aware of my issues. Something I've noticed while reading posts is that some people call alcholism a disease (like cancer or whatever), and others call it a choice.

I'm curious to hear from other forum members what they think.

Dee74

This is one of the perennial questions Ironhorse.
I really don't think there's a right answer that fits everyone.

For myself, I tend to think of it as a disease, or condition, simply because it's simpler for me to think of it that way.

It's a condition I can manage by doing all the right things...and by doing those right things I stopped making diseased decisions, I regained my power - and my ability to choose well and wisely.

D

Betty126

I do believe there's an element of both. I personally believe I was an alcoholic in waiting before I took my first drink. I had a different reaction to my first drink than my friends did. Loved it and instantly craved more. As many here will probably say...what difference does that distinction really make? We are here because alcohol has caused problems and we want to stop.

Ironhorse1

For me...that distinction is important. If it's a "disease" I'm at the mercy of it and I have little say. If it's a choice, I feel like I have an element of control.

Betty126

I also fear this question when it comes to my son. He's almost 20, on rotc scholarship and has, of his own choice, never drank or drugged. It has isolated him from many of his hometown and college friends. For his own reasons, he remains committed to not consuming. I am so grateful for this. But worry that he will have a genetic tendency that if and when he takes a drink it will be the start of the same downward slide that I experienced.

Betty126

I understand that. I can tell you that my dad thinks it's a disease. Something he is at the mercy of. He's 69 and has wasted his whole life with that mentality, never really believing he can get free. I don't know how much longer he has.
I guess my point was...even if it is a disease....it has the easiest, cheapest, and most available treatment for any disease out there: don't drink.

Dee74

I have a whole raft of other diseases/medical conditions tho, and I'm not at the mercy of any of those either...

like I said it's a very subjective thing.

What makes sense to me may not to you, and vice versa

D

freshstart57

I don't think there is any question that an addiction to alcohol comes with a host of very serious medical problems that cause social, economic, physical, mental and physiological damage. I don't think that makes it a disease, however, just as we don't consider addiction to other damaging habit-forming substances diseases. Call it what it is - an addiction. I believe that when that happens, the mindset adjusts appropriately to lead us to seek appropriate measures that can make us well again.

Time2Rise

Maybe you can view it this way: if it's a disease, you can "choose" to take the necessary measures to put the disease into remission. Those measures can inculde therapy, rehab, self-help groups like AA OR SMART Recovery, educating yourself on recovery techniques etc.

Coldfusion

For a different perspective on this topic, you should read this discussion in the "Friends and Family" section:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-v-cancer.html

uncorked

Everyone will have a different opinion on this one. For me, it's a choice. I choose not to drink.

Notimetoloose

It is a very complex question..
I think for the most part it can be both, however, there can be a crossover point that many believe they no longer had the abiIity to make a choice.
Whatever the answer is, I, personally, I would like it officially recognised as a disease.....
Recognising alcoholism as a disease would open more doors for support, assistance, openness, education and respect for those suffering from addiction.

Berrybean

I think of it like a physical and mental condition. One that is set off by that first drink. So I don't take the first drink.

For you, trying to stop drinking, obviously this is going to be difficult, but it is still a choice. All of us here, and all the many many millions and thousands of people in AA all made that initial choice when getting sober. Today I am not going to drink. Repeat. Repeat . Repeat, etc. For some people this meant getting medical assistance to do it safely. Others a stint in rehab. For me, it meant a very uncomfortable white knuckling month, before going along to AA to get some support in learning how to live sober.

The longer it is between your last drink and the current moment, the easier that gets.

In the big book of AA it states words you the effect that drinking is just a symptom of our alcoholism. When we stop drinking but don't work on our recovery, all we've done is treated a symptom . That's why, if we want to learn to be comfortable sober, we need to engage in some recovery work of our own. In AA that means separately even to meetings. My recovery work treats my condition, and brings me relief so I no longer feel the need to take a drink. As long as I keep on top of it, hopefully those craving will be few and far between, and not too strong.

EndGameNYC

It doesn't matter what I call it, and it doesn't matter what the AMA or anyone else calls it.

What I know is that when I drink, each and every one of my nightmares will eventually come true. Sometimes very quickly, and sometimes the nightmares are not even those that I remember having.

When I don't drink, my life is not only filled with possibilities, but possibilities that I act on because I believe that they're in my power to achieve. Despite my fears, and regardless of the outcome. Stick around and you'll see that many others have done and are doing the same thing. Life isn't a dress rehearsal for something better to come down the line. It started whenever WE started..

It may telling that after reading around here for a couple of weeks that you landed on whether or not it's worth the effort to get sober. Looking for a way around sobriety will only keep you in Hell much longer than you need to be there.

Soberwolf

Not ignoring the question but what does it matter to one's own recovery

fripfrop

I think its a form of mental illness. But I have read research that says people who become addicted have brains that are wired differently, even before they try the substance that they become addicted to.
Then again, I've read some substances anyone can become addicted to.
And I've read research that says people who become addicted to drink, metabolise alcohol differently, so it's more addictive to them than to normal drinkers.
But I believe its a choice whether you decide to take that first drink.
Once you become physically dependant though, I believe that choice is taken away.

Lance40

I don't think of my drinking as either a disease or a choice. For me it was a maladapted behavioural response to life circumstances I was in. When I quit drinking and broke the cycle I was able to get my life circumstances in order, and now that my life is in order I no longer have any particular desire for alcohol.

fripfrop

Lance, I wish I was like that. Before I have relapsed because I have felt HAPPY, happy I had stopped drinking and everything was under control, happiness is a big a trigger for me as unhappiness is ha.
Which leads me to believe the lure of the booze for me has something more to do with than just my frame of mind

Forward12

I think it for sure fits into a gray area on one hand, it does fit into the category of a disease as it progressively gets worse, however on the other hand, we are the ones ultimately in control of it. The booze doesn't go from the store and into our bodies by itself, that is a choice we are making, even if it seems like we aren't as the alcohol can put you in such a death grip it may make it seem like you don't have that choice, though in the end we do.

Nonsensical

I had a thousand pound weight crushing the life from my body and the joy from my spirit. Was it an anvil or was it an anchor? I really wanted to know. I didn't want to try to move it until I knew.

My curiosity nearly killed me, but in the end it didn't matter at all. I had to move the damn thing no matter what it was called.