Sickatheart2

Alcoholism is not just a drinking disease, it's a thinking disease .. this is what i've learned .. take that word and break it apart and you have dis ease .. or rather lack of ease .. in the home, in the mind, in relationships, in ourselves, etc .. break it apart and you have your symptoms .. Dis respect, Dis appointment, Dis couragement, Dis Grace, Dis Organised, Dis play, Dis regard, and the list goes on .. This has truly been my learning .. it's never the bottle that's the sole cause, it's the thinking that led to the drinking that's the problem .. In my experience only, I've learned what we're powerless over is Not our decisions over what and how we will say and act with the Alcoholic, we are powerless over how we are Effected by the Alcoholic's Thinking & behaviors .. We are powerless that we will feel helpless, crazy, confused, anxious, discouraged, etc.. and the list goes on .. The medical society defines a disease as one that Effects our organs, thinking, and outlook in general, we Can't will it away .. Yet at the end of the day the Exact Nature of our wrongs as stated through the steps I've come to recognise as Human Nature .. I doubt there's a person on the planet that has Not been Effected by another's thinking and behavior at some point or other ..

anyway the above is what i've truly come to believe but it has taken some real time and effort and many face to face meetings in alanon .. I'm new to this board; glad to have found you all ..

windhorse

I was reading all of the responses in this thread, noticed that several responses stated that "nowhere does it say you have to accept that alcoholism is a disease." But in the Intro Step 1 thread it says (this is shortened):

This was pulled from a recognized Al-Anon publication. Would that not then imply that acceptance of alcoholism as a disease (and not, say, a symptom or manifestation of a psychological disorder, along the lines of Borderline Personality Disorder) is required? or at least, expected?

This is an honest question, not a snarky one.

Katiekate

I think alcoholism in process is about as close to being a disease as it gets, it is progressive and it erodes the core of the identity of the person in process. It does sicken the mind, the body, the brain , the heart, the soul of a person. On the face of it , ie drinking, to get drunk, to deal with life etc.... it may not present like a disease, but once in it's grips, the person certainly goes through stages of getting sicker and sicker. Maybe it's semantics, but I do think for the purpose of recovery calling it a disease is appropriate.

I consider my axbf sick, and I consider myself sick as well. Unlike him, I am recovering, but like him, if I go back, I become sicker again. It is addiction I am dealing with, I have felt unwell, I have been triggered into re engaging, he fixes himself his first drink at say 5 pm, because we usually at least chatted daily at around 7pm, or checked in, I start to get antsy then. The times I have broken NC , I did it because the pressure was too hard, I missed him and was obsessing about him, contacting him relieved the pressue, somewhere in my mind I decided that even if I was abused or manipulated or put down, releasing that pressure was my high. And it truly was. I was powerless, I may be powerless again, I sure hope not. Just my take.

Aviva

I'm not in the business of labeling or diagnosing.

And I'm not about to interpret one question-for-thought from one page of Paths to Recovery to mean that I need to diagnose and label someone else, in order to apply Al-Anon principles to my own behavior and thinking.

Maybe some people need to call alcoholism a disease, in order to accept that they can't control it. That thinking, for me, is tinged with alanonic condescension/controlling, even if it's not said directly to the person I'm reacting to. What exactly is up with them is none of my business.

I'm just starting out, and really don't want to get distracted by phrases that are just the authors' best efforts to help as many people at as many levels of awareness and desperation as they can.


YMMV and all that.

MyFitz

I perceive it as a disorder.

songbird73

i can buy its a disease. my exab would drink himself stupid & spend the night & most the next day puking & pooping...definatelly NOT something anyone would chose to do i would think. so i have to say it must be uncontrolable. my thing is why is alcoholism the only disease where you become the disease? i have known people with cancer & they do not use their illness as their idenity. my exab would tell my how he is just sick & toxic & what do i expect, am i really that stupid?...and this was 6 months into sobriety! i guess so because i have been bending over backwards for past year trying to be understanding of something that i guess is way beyond my understanding. i do not believe that alcoholics own the rights to selfishness & lies but they sure do seem to think they do. is that a disease? a mental one i agree. but maybe its just an easy way to have an excuse for bad behavior. im sorry. what do you expect? im just an alcoholic.....what a crock!