by Sirona 93 Replies latest jw friends
Abaddon,
I've heard that alcoholics can't have one drink because the one drink automatically "pushes a button" which means that they have to continue drinking available alcohol until they pass out or run out of alcohol? Do you know of any studies about this? What is the physical "cause" of this?
I strongly suspect that there is some truth in what I said above - that the alcoholic can't just have one drink.
Sirona
Sirona,
I've heard that alcoholics can't have one drink because the one drink automatically "pushes a button" which means that they have to continue drinking available alcohol until they pass out or run out of alcohol? Do you know of any studies about this? What is the physical "cause" of this?
Exactly ... this is what alcoholism is all about. A "normal" person without the disease can have one drink and stop. Or they can easily choose to not drink. An alcoholic cannot do this. It takes serious intervention, medical treatment, education, and a determination to stay clean of alcohol.
As for studies, I do not have a citation on hand, but I will see what I can find and post it later on. However, the experience of millions upon millions of alcoholics testifies to this fact: until they get treatment and deal with the disease, they cannot stop drinking.
Jim W.
My personal experience:
I come from a family of hard drinkers. I can't actually remember a time when I saw my dad sober. My mom has what's known as an addictive personality- once she starts something she enjoys, she just can't or won't stop. My mom's last husband was the biggest drunk you'd ever encounter; when I was still going to school (I was pulled out at age twelve) he used to give me 1 beer, cocktail, or shot for every "A" I brought home. As I was a straight-A student, I used to have about as much alcohol as I wanted. When I used to stay with my father and stepmother in the summers, they drank constantly. I went through a period in my twenties when I drank a bit more than was healthy- never drunk, but I often had a slight buzz.
So, I should be an alcoholic, right? All the factors are there, the genetic predisposition, the environmental factor, the habitual use of alcohol as a young child. Well, guess what- I know my limits, and I stop at two drinks. Maybe I'd like more than that, but I know that I'm responsible for my own actions, so I control myself. I have two brothers, with the same genetics and upbringing as I had. One rarely drinks, the other one is rarely sober. So, these are the choices we've made in our lives. I don't consider alcoholics to be diseased, I consider them weak-willed.
So, I should be an alcoholic, right? All the factors are there, the genetic predisposition, the environmental factor, the habitual use of alcohol as a young child. Well, guess what- I know my limits, and I stop at two drinks. Maybe I'd like more than that, but I know that I'm responsible for my own actions, so I control myself. I have two brothers, with the same genetics and upbringing as I had. One rarely drinks, the other one is rarely sober. So, these are the choices we've made in our lives. I don't consider alcoholics to be diseased, I consider them weak-willed.
so, by your logic, 100% of people with a family history of cancer should end up getting cancer, right?...i mean, otherwise, the cancer must've been the family member's own fault somehow...
Mitch Hedberg (comedian who recently passed away) summed it up best by saying:
Alcoholism is a disease, but it's the only one you can get yelled at for having. Goddamn it Otto, you are an alcoholic. Goddamn it Otto, you have Lupis... one of those two doesn't sound right.
I see "alcoholism" as a choice too. One of my grandfathers was a bona fide, clinical, alcholic. AA did wonders for him. His body had a terrible addiction to alcohol...one drink and off to the races. He needed help and when he found it he could control his drinking.
On the other side of the family.... those guys (grandad, great-uncles etc) all are part of the poster family for dysfunction. I am sure most would be considered addictive personality types. Fact of it is, most of them just liked getting drunk. All of them could control the drinking and drank at will. The down side was they tended to get mean and abusive when loaded, fight alot etc. Most of them paid the price later in life with strained relations, lost families and that kind of thing. Most quit (or slowed down) as they aged and became pretty decent folks.
It's all about choice.
~Hill
Mitch Hedberg (comedian who recently passed away)
what?!? NOOOOOOO!!!!!
man, i loved him. (in a purely comedian/audience way)
i think we're assuming that just because a person has a 'genetic predisposition' for the disease, they HAVE to exhibit the symptoms...otherwise it must not be a disease. why is this standard not applied to any other disease? as someone else said, we're confusing 'predisposition' with 'predestination.'
Edited to add: there are some children born to parents with AIDS that are immune to the virus...
Hill
Fact of it is, most of them just liked getting drunk.
Well I think that you've hit upon an important difference between a true alcoholic and someone who abuses alcohol.
I think that anyone who CAN control their drinking (by control, I mean, have just a couple of drinks and then stop and not find it a problem) are not alcoholics. Those who can't stop drinking and have to look for outside help are alcoholics....that is my opinion.
Saying that, I think that we have too many prejudices about alcoholism. Most of us (including myself for some time) think that an alcoholic is someone who is drunk 24/7 and is a total wreck. In fact, there are functioning alcoholics who have jobs and who do look after their family, but they drink in between and in the evenings will drink into oblivion (having done all of their "chores" for the day).
I know at least three alcoholics who function fairly well. One of them I've known for most of my life and he drinks heavily (and it almost doesn't seem to have an effect, he needs A LOT of alcohol for it to show that he is even drunk), he gets more drunk when things are difficult for him (like just recently after a funeral, he drank so much at the wake that when he got home at 5pm he passed out). The thing is, this guy has a job and functions quite well. He is guilty of drink driving though, and to be honest I think that is one of the worst problems of an alcoholic who can drive....they drink at all times of day so when they drive they are almost certain to be over the limit.
Its such a widespread problem. I hope this thread will help anyone who is finding alcohol misuse is adversely affecting their life.
Lets talk about "normal" alcohol use. Health experts say two drinks a day for a man and one drink a day for a woman. How many of us adhere to that? (a drink is one beer, or one small glass of wine).
I'm still on the fence as to whether it is a choice or a disease. Maybe both?
Sirona
