ALCOHOLISM
Toledo, Ohio
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Webster defines alcoholism as “the habitual drinking of alcoholic liquor to excess, or a diseased condition caused by this.”
At face value this seems to be an accurate description of someone with alcoholism. Ask most people and they would agree with this definition. However, there are some discrepancies and misinformation in our current use of the term alcoholism that need to be acknowledged. Mainly that alcoholism is not a disease, but a belief. Nowhere has it been proven that the disease exists. Read any literature and the results will not confidently state it is a disease. They will only speculate. The following is a quick and realistic look at "alcoholism". Alcoholism is not a disease, find out how many have already realized that alcoholism and addiction is a choice.
dependency.faithweb.com/
Dependency Answers by Don Whiting
First of all, the DSM-IV-TR (used by professionals to diagnose mental disorders) does not diagnose someone with alcoholism, but rather with substance abuse or substance dependence. They define what Webster would call a diseased condition (alcoholism), a substance use disorder. As a substance use disorder, ones alcohol or drug use becomes a maladaptive pattern leading to clinically significant impairment or distress. This impairment or distress becomes dependence or abuse depending on the extent it interferes with ones life, and the degree of tolerance or withdrawal one experiences. In other words, a psychiatrist would not diagnose someone with alcoholism, but rather with substance abuse or substance dependence. Furthermore, a maladaptive pattern is not a disease.
Secondly, looking at the Big Book of AA there is no mention of alcoholism being a physical or biological disease, but rather it is referred to as a spiritual disease or an illness.
From the Big Book on disease:
"Resentment is the 'number one' offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically." Ch5 p.64
From the Big Book on illness:
"If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer." ch4 p.44
The only talk of disease is a spiritual one and in the introduction it explains how people have recovered from this spiritual disease, forever!
From The Big Book on recovery:
"We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill. Nearly all have recovered. They have solved the drink problem."
Don’t believe me? Look it up. Here is the link:
I think the Big Book is great if used right, but it does not indicate an insidious, inescapable disease that we often associate with alcoholism.
Third and most importantly, no research has concluded alcoholism as a disease. Of all the studies, literature, and money spent, we are still left with the fact that no one has found the disease of alcoholism. This is troubling for the same industry that has found no proof of a disease, promotes the disease concept.
So what is alcoholism?
In reality it is simply a belief. Jack Trimpey says it best: “Alcoholism and alcoholic are folk expressions. Neither word is a medical term…….I will use the term alcoholic to refer to people who believe they are powerless over their addictions and act accordingly…..They are practicing the philosophy of alcohol-ism……As with any philosophy, alcoholism is comprised of many beliefs and assumptions.” Jack Trimpey, The Small Book, pp5-6, DTP, 1992
Alcoholism carries with it a stigma that says the person afflicted cannot control their use of alcohol, they are powerless over alcohol, they are spiritually lacking and need to surrender their will to a higher power, and that they have a disease for the rest of their life.
It is unfortunate that we have transformed the term "alcoholism" into a limited definition of a disease. For though it is not a disease, the mere fact that people believe it is a disease, makes it harder for them to escape it's clutches. I believe it does a disservice to those who struggle with alcohol or drugs because it promotes powerlessness and dependency. To look at alcoholism as it truly is (a belief) is to understand and take control of our own individual role in overcoming it. Beliefs can be powerful, but so can the truth. Find out how the majority of those who once struggled with alcohol and drugs changed their lives, and refused to acknowledge alcoholism as a disease.
http://www.keycounseling.com
ALCOHOLISM SUBSTANCE ABUSE CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY
Tim Welch: Toledo, Ohio
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