Alcoholism - a disease or a choice? (page 4)

lonelysheep

I'm on the fence about it, too. When I was an alcoholic, I was drunk whenever possible. I was also a teenager. Unfortunately, I didn't have help, but eventually did stop on my own. Looking back, I don't consider it a disease for myself. For others, I don't know. It was more of a mental thing convincing my body to go into alcohol overload.

doogie

lonelysheep:

When I was an alcoholic, I was drunk whenever possible. I was also a teenager. Unfortunately, I didn't have help, but eventually did stop on my own.

from what i've read about alcoholism, if you had it, it was very mild. alcoholism usually is not something that someone can just "will" themselves out of.

sirona:

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).

heck no! i've read that before and i thought, man, i'm not such a drunk after all! (i'll have a drink or two maybe one out of 3 days)

personally, i have a STRONG family history of alcoholism. as of now, i'm able to maintain control of my drinking. i do agree that lifting the next (and the next and the next...) drink to your lips is technically a choice, but the way that our individual bodies process the alcohol and the way our individual brains react to it is certainly not. there have been numerous studies that show that children's of alcoholics bodies process alcohol differrently and this is why i feel that it can't be called a "choice" anymore than heart disease can.

LittleToe

You can be an alcoholic on a single drink per day, regardless of gender. It's the dependance that's the point...

Current recommended limits in Britain are 21units/week for men and 14 units/week for women, which isn't an incitement to binge drink the week's quota on a Friday night

A unit equates to half a pint of beer, a glass of wine, or a single measure of spirits.

Women drinking is on the increase, in Britain, whereas men's stats are steady, as they are still drinking like fish:
http://www.24dr.com/reference/library/psych/alcohol/women.htm

LittleToe

Regarding choice, an individual can certainly choose to put themselves at risk, by their behaviour (similar to sexually transmitted diseases, albeit alcoholism isn't contagious), and there are indicators (such as family history and social prevalence) which should also be warning signs.

Sirona

Wow Ross,

Thanks for posting the stats. The thing about saying "one glass of wine" is that everyones glass is a different size! LOL

Seriously, even describing it in milliletres doesn't make a great amount of sense to me. I usually get 5 glasses from a bottle of wine..... (erm off to do the conversions)

Sirona

To sum up, the executive or professional full-time employee, single or married without dependent children, in her mid-20s or early 30s is probably most at risk of an alcohol problem. Also at risk are single unmarried women under 25

That quote is from Ross's link. Very interesting indeed and an eye opener.

Sirona

upside/down

A disease by choice perhaps?

I wonder... If an alcoholic is stranded on a desert island with no alkeeehall, and he's sober for 10 years out of sheer circumstances... and continues in this state (of being stranded with no access to fire water) is he still an alcoholic?

What if it's genetic for me to hunt assholes down and put a bullet between their eyes? I can't help it (it's genetic), perhaps I'm "evolving" and this is how more advance creatures act... but you're all to primitive to see it because.... well you get the idea.

Sumthin Ain't right here...

Now habitually breaking the speed limit... now there's a disease and I'm a carrier!

u/d (of the take responsibility for your actions class)

Mulan

I have seen two types of alcoholics.............one I do believe is a disease, and that even if the person never had a drink, they are an alcoholic. One man I know, said that when he first tasted it when he was a child, all he could think about from then on, was having more. He spent much of his youth drinking. Now he is sober, but definitely still an alcoholic.

Others become one, after abusing alcohol over time. They seem to have an easier time quitting than the first kind. Both are alcholics.

One a disease, one choice.

But that's just my viewpoint.

LittleToe

Many years ago I used to be head winewaiter and barman, in a restaurant (at the time of "Cocktail" with Tom Cruise - and yes, we used to fling things around ).

Bar measure wine glasses would give you about 6 glasses per bottle.

Sirona

U/d

Whilst I can see what you mean, surely the progressive nature of alcoholism means that it becomes very difficult to "stop" drinking. It isn't always a case of "oh stop being so selfish and just stop drinking"

Sirona

Alcoholism - a disease or a choice?

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