Alcoholism - a disease or a choice? (page 6)

upside/down

Ok Ok ,

We're splitting hairs here.. don't go Watchtower on me... first off I was not dogmatic doogie in my definition of disease and you left out key words I intentionall inserted "not necessarily dependent" to see if you have a "chip on your shoulder".

Every discussion of alcoholism... like homosexuality... everyone seems so polarized and quickly jumps to one side or the other.. I agree with much of how you "feel" on the subject... I just "feel" differently on some of it. I refuse to argue semantics though as I have a chip on my shoulder toward that!

The big difference is that people with other diseases merit our sympathy and love. Whereas alcoholics piss us off, so we tend to minimize their disease and see them through the eyes of judgmentalism.

Is that a judgement of my viewpoint? So all addictions are "diseases", therefore pedophiles who claim it's "just who they are" .... oh never mind. When was the last time a cancer patient killed a child in a crosswalk with his car due to his disease?

For the record... I've NEVER minimized the problem (disease) or judged any so afflicted. And I've given undeserved sympathy and love to the most abusive of alcoholics (my dad).

It would just be nice to see the pendulum swing the other way for a change. All the oness is put on the "non-afflicted" and the alkees get all the sympathy.....

I think I'll become an alcoholic and thus avoid all of this "judgementalism"... and maybe even get some love and sympathy. Wait can I give myself the disease (as some define it). So I wonder what ISN'T a "disease"?

For the reocrd (semantics again) someone dying of withdrawal... is not the same as the example I used. Any person addicted to any substance can die of withdrawal. I obviously meant someone who was not in that state... with the "disease" in them, not while they're "loaded".

These topics are always way too adversarial (and I know I'm just as much to blame) but the keyboard and screen make it so difficult to convey the proper emotions and feelings involved with many of the statements given on a topic like this.

u/d (of the I'll give it a rest class)

kls

These topics are always way to adversarial (and I know I'm just as much to blame) but the keyboard and screen make it so difficult to convey the proper emotions and feelings involved with many of the statements given on a topic like this

UD

Bet you get this emotion,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,lol,,,,,,,,,,,,,((((hugs ))))

upside/down

((((hugs)))))) back at ya

jwbot

I know of an alcoholic, and boy did I know NOTHING about it until I met this person and they became a part of my life. I will not go into detail about who it is though.

She is an alcoholic, and I think its a disease, and I think (and doctors think) that it was caused by excessive drinking as a teenager, her young body being unable to handle it right. From what I understand, you can be born with it to but not know until you have a drink. Is it an excuse? Absolutely not, because at that point, it is up to them to stay away from alcohol and fix their life. My "friend" is an alcoholic...she was abusive to her child when she drank. She lost her job because of it, and drove a car and got into an accident because of it. That was the lowest she went...and you would think that you can not recover from that, but she did. She got help, AA in particular. She realized that it affected her AND her child who she abused. Well she has not picked up a drink for years now, has a good job, is a great mother to a 4 year old little girl and has rectified her relationship with her son whome she had abused. So having a disease does not mean one can just say "fuck it, its harder for me". Not at all. I had ADD, its not an "excuse" for me to sleep and be lazy...no I take meds, exersize, pay attention in class.

doogie

Is that a judgement of my viewpoint? So all addictions are "diseases", therefore pedophiles who claim it's "just who they are" .... oh never mind. When was the last time a cancer patient killed a child in a crosswalk with his car due to his disease?

if a person is infected with AIDS and goes around intentionally infecting others, does this make AIDS a choice or him an a$$hole? having a disease does not absolve you from responsibility for your actions. it also does not absolve you from responsibility for what you may have done to increase your risk of being affected by the disease (be it unprotected sex, or alcohol abuse).

upside/down

Agreed!

doogie

u/d:

cool. hey, i'll buy ya a beer.

Mary

I think a good question to ask would be: Is addiction a disease or a choice? Alcoholism, like drug addiction, over-eating or smoking are all addictions. I believe that people can be pre-dispositioned to different addictions, depending on various factors, such as environment. I know numerous people who are alcoholics today, whose parents were alcoholics. Is this just chance or is there something that predispositions someone to a certain behaviour?

BrendaCloutier

Some awesome things have been brought out on alcoholism, AA, and recovery, that I doubt that I can add more than my own 2 cents. But for those who know me, know that I love to spend my 2 cents wherever they seem fit or fitting.......

AMA, the American Medical Association, came out in 1956 with Alcoholism being a disease. Of course I remember the WT stance and my parents stance that the AMA didn't know what they were talking about! Of course alcoholism is a morality issue and an alcoholic can quit whenever they want, and should just quit!

I was adopted at 8 months old by JW parents, who are very normal drinkers. My mom would buy a bottle of quality white wine, enjoy a glass or two, and the rest would sit in the fridge until it went bad and she'd toss it. My dad would enjoy some beer once in a while during the summer. Like I said, normal drinkers, and neither liked getting drunk. They didn't "like the way it feels". Too normal for me!

I developed alcoholism in my late teens when I got married and my new husband drank regularly. He was then already alcoholic. His dad was an alcoholic. I didn't find out until after I got sober and developed a relationship with my birth-mother's sister (birth-mother died before I could know her), my aunt, that alcoholism ran in the family all the way back at least 5 generations! THAT was only on my mother's side. I have no idea about who fathered me nor his medical history.

JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Assosciation - had a report a few years ago, on a 30 year study of adoptees of alcoholic birth parentage raised in "normal" homes. The percentage of developing alcoholism was something like 90% proving the genetic link. Shoot, I could have told them that!

10 years ago I had an intense discussion with my (adopted) dad, an elder, regarding alcoholism, my alcoholism, etc. I told him that my body was incapable of processing alcohol normally, just like his body, diabetic, was incapable of processing sugar normally. One of two times I've seen him speachless! He later that day actually told me that it was definitely something to think about.

I know enough about my own alcoholism, how alcohol affects me, and how I react to it, to know that I cannot drink again without dire consequences: sanitarium, suicide, or worse, taking someone else with me, leaving behind people who love me. For me the addage "one drink is too many and 1,000 too few" is fact.

If you "think" you have a problem, then you probably do. Alcoholism is deadly: more than 90% of alcoholics die by the disease. This is not just cirrhosis of the liver, but car accidents, suicides, kitchen accidents while drunk, esophogeal hemorage, and more.

Alcoholism is NOT something to feel embarrased about. Ya don't feel embarrased if you have a cold or the flu, or a broken leg, or cancer, or diabetes, or allergies huh? Then alcoholism is nothing to be embarrased by. It's what you DO about it that counts.

Hugs. Lots of hugs, and my 2 cents.

Brenda

FairMind

I asked whether alcoholism was a DISEASE - and by that I meant something that develops regardless of choices, thereby absolving the individual of responsibility for the alcoholism.

I didn't read all of the posts, so this my already have been mentioned. IMO, alcoholism is an addiction, not a disease. Some may beacuse of genetics, etc. be more easily hooked than others but all the same it is an addiction (based on past personal experience). Like any other addiction, including tobaccom it is the addict's responsibility to break free from the habit

Alcoholism - a disease or a choice?

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