alcoholism

Ater watching Miss USA saying she is an alcoholic and its a "disease". It left me wondeing do you think its a disease??
Personally I dont. I think of a disease as Cancer, AIDS, diabetes. I think its something a person has control of. My dads dad was a alcoholic and he did it to himself. I know it can kill people but like I said above I think the person has control of it. Just curious girls. What do you think??

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I think that some people are predisposed to having addictive personalities. Do I think it is a "disease" in the traditional sense? No. But I do believe that some people really have very little control over it and that genetic disposition can be extremely hard for some people to over come.

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I don't know and don't understand at what point addiction becomes "disease". I don't know what qualifies alcoholism as a disease as opposed to other addictions.

They say quitting smoking can be harder than quitting heroin...yet people addicted to nicotine are not said to have a disease.

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Message edited 2/1/2007 10:17:23 AM.

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Message edited 2/1/2007 10:15:23 AM.

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I would almost say that alcoholism is more of a condition than a disease.

Message edited 2/1/2007 10:11:42 AM.

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I think it is not a disease like cancer, but I do think it is a disease like let's say, schitzophrenia (sp?).

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I think it's a disease and I do not think it's something that can just be controlled.

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Yes I think it is. Some people are pre-disposed. Some people can drink socially or even do drugs socially and others cannot. Others become addicted which is why I think it is a disease.

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The reason true alcoholism is viewed as a disease is that there are many studies that prove it is passed down from parent to child. There have not been (to my knowledge) any studies that prove any other drug adictions that are passed down genetically. It's mainly passed down along male lines, but in some rare instances it can be passed to a female.

I do believe that the word alcoholic is thrown around very lightly, and people who drink too much call themselves this. There are people who are additcted to it, much like any other drug, I don't consider them to be alcoholic.

I did a lot of research on it to understand my father's issues, it really opened my eyes to the differences. I know I'm not explaining it really well.

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Posted by BabyAvocado

I don't know and don't understand at what point addiction becomes "disease". I don't know what qualifies alcoholism as a disease as opposed to other addictions.

They say quitting smoking can be harder than quitting heroin...yet people addicted to nicotine are not said to have a disease.

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Definition of Alcoholism

"Alcoholism is a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterized by continuous or periodic: impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial."

"Primary" refers to the nature of alcoholism as a disease entity in addition to and separate from other pathophysiologic states which may be associated with it.

"Primary" suggests that alcoholism, as an addiction, is not a symptom of an underlying disease state.

"Disease" means an involuntary disability. It represents the sum of the abnormal phenomena displayed by a group of individuals. These phenomena are associated with a specified common set of characteristics by which these individuals differ from the norm, and which places them at a disadvantage.

"Often progressive and fatal" means that the disease persists over time and that physical, emotional, and social changes are often cumulative and may progress as drinking continues. Alcoholism causes premature death through overdose, organic complications involving the brain, liver, heart and many other organs, and by contributing to suicide, homicide, motor vehicle crashes, and other traumatic events.

"Impaired control" means the inability to limit alcohol use or to consistently limit on any drinking occasion the duration of the episode, the quantity consumed, and/or the behavioral consequences of drinking.

"Preoccupation" in association with alcohol use indicates excessive, focused attention given to the drug alcohol, its effects, and/or its use. The relative value thus assigned to alcohol by the individual often leads to a diversion of energies away from important life concerns.

"Adverse consequences" are alcohol-related problems or impairments in such areas as: physical health (e.g., alcohol withdrawal syndromes, liver disease, gastritis, anemia, neurological disorders); psychological functioning (e.g., impairments in cognition, changes in mood and behavior); interpersonal functioning (e.g., marital problems and child abuse, impaired social relationships); occupational functioning (e.g., scholastic or job problems); and legal, financial, or spiritual problems.

"Denial" is used here not only in the psychoanalytic sense of a single psychological defense mechanism disavowing the significance of events, but more broadly to include a range of psychological maneuvers designed to reduce awareness of the fact that alcohol use is the cause of an individual's problems rather than a solution to those problems. Denial becomes an integral part of the disease and a major obstacle to recovery.

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I do think that alcoholism is a disease and I think that often times it is in addition to another psychological disorder like depression, bi-polar dissorder or schitzophrenia. Many alcoholics self medicate in order to deal with these issues.

I think it is hard to see it as a disease b/c where do you draw the line between someone who drinks too much and someone who really has a problem?

Message edited 2/1/2007 4:12:04 PM.

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Yes, I think alcoholism is a disease much like bulemia, anorexia, morbid obesity, etc. There is something not clicking with those who suffer from these illnesses. What may have started out as something contollable shifted to uncontrollable.

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Definition of disease:

S: (n) disease (an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning)

Alcoholism is definitely an impairment of abnormal functioning. I do not think it is something that can be controlled. People who have addictions need help and cannot control their behaviors.

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Alcoholism is a person's inability to control himself around alcohol. SO, no, it is certainly not a disease IMO, just a complete lack of self control. There are different reason for people becoming alcoholics, from what I have seen it is mostly deep frustration and uinsatisfaction with life and feeling of being out of control with their own destiny. Some people have the strength to fight it, some people don't... Seen it both...

I do see how an alcoholic parent could effect the children in certain cases and create alcoholic dependency early on. If they are a flesh of his flesh, the fetus is automatically carrying alcohol in his system if he was concieved by an alcoholic parent. There an expression "Alcoholist is in his blood"... that is exactly true in the above example.

Of course, there is also the factor of a child seeing his parent drink throughout his childhood which in return makes that child turn to the bottle when the going gets tough. BUT there are plenty of cases when seeing what effect alcohol has on a parent turns the child completely away from alcohol for the rest of his life. Seen it both ways!

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Based on the definition of disease (a condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms : SICKNESS, MALADY) yes, I do consider alcoholism a disease.

However it took me a long to come to that conclusion - prior to that, and having lived with alcoholism, I viewd it as a weakness and something the person had full control over. Having educated myself on the matter I see now that that is just not true. Especially when it is passed on from parent to child.

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