Aug
27
2010
Do you think alcoholism and other forms of addiction should be regarded as “diseases”?
Posted by: Alan in alcoholism treatment, tags: Addiction, Alcoholism, diseases, forms, regarded, Should, Think
Question by badmoon36: Do you think alcoholism and other forms of addiction should be regarded as “diseases”?
Why or why not?
Best answer:
Answer by Lila
At one time addictions including alcoholism were considered disabilities. And those with addictions were eligible for Social Security Disability. It was determined because they had a choice in the addiction and could stop it is not disability. A disability is now considered to be a true physical or mental disability. The thinking was that by supporting the addicted person that they were enabling them to continue with using alcohol or drugs. That many more would have an incentive to stop.
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August 27th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Tough question…I know that it runs in families..My grandfather was an alcoholic, my father is an alcoholic, and I was on the verge of becoming one myself before I took control of the situation before it got too bad. My mom is also an alcoholic, and her father was an alcoholic…So, considering this…diseases run in families, right? Or could it be that when you were a kid you saw your parents doing this and only knew how to be like them so went the same route?? I think it may be more of a genetic imprint that we inherited from our parents to be susceptible to addiction, not necessarily specifically alcoholism, or drug use…any sort of addiction. Food addiction, shopping addiction, smoking addiction…I found that I did quit the addiction to alcohol in time, but I am very susceptible to other addictions. I smoke cigarettes and can’t for the life of me quit. I’m sooo addicted I started crying the third day I stopped smoking. It’s horrible. Addiction is a hard thing to deal with. I don’t think it should be labeled as a disease, though, but a genetic trait.
August 27th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Absolutely! Its function altering, just as any other disease.
August 27th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Yes, It’s a mental illness.
August 27th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Hi, Badmoon3.
My answer is “no”, but allow me to explain.
When it comes on to having a disease, you have no control over avoiding it. Yes, we can use condoms to practice safe sex, but there is no guarantee the condoms won’t burst and lead you to become an HIV victim.
When a person is born with heart problems, he didn’t have a choice to choose whether he would like not to be a heart patient individual or not. A disease is a sudden shock, occurs without ones consent.
But alcoholism does not occur without ones consent, neither does smoking. It is your personal choice to drink and smoke at your own convenience. Addiction is a tough case. Just as how one can become addicted to Yahoo! Answers, it’s the same with becoming addicted to alcohol. We as human beings simply tend to develop an enormous enthusiasm for something, whether that be to pimp our cars, wear the latest Jordan shoes on the market, smoke our lungs out, or drink ourselves over the cliff.
Addiction usually occurs by the company you keep. You see what your friends or families do, so you do it, too, and hence become addicted.
My Dad used to drink really heavy ( actually, my whole family drink really heavy). But I never started drinking until I found myself in a group that did. And fortunately for me, I got away from the group when I came to the United States. And then my cardiologist told me that alcohol is not good for my heart condition. It was a personal choice for me whether not to stop or to discontinue drinking alcohol. I decided to stop, but you can’t tell a disease to stop without taking medication.
My Dad used to smoke and would not stop, even when he promised himself to, and when the doctor told him that the lump in his mouth might be cancer, he stopped smoking immediately. Fortunately for him, the lump in his mouth was not cancer, but that didn’t encourage him to smoke again.
My answer has a lot of flaws in it ( yes, I know), because you could ask me: Then why can’t I stop drinking when I desperately need to? Isn’t this some form of a disease? And how come families that smoke their kids also ( most of the time) smoke?
Again, the kids see what their parents do, so they do the same thing.
Kids see their friends smoke, so they do the same thing.
The famous phrase says ” You are known by the company you keep”
This is just my opinion on the matter, though, and it does not have to be true.
Take care
August 27th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
People do have the choice to smoke or drink or gamble, but they are not choosing the ADDICTION any more than someone who eats the wrong foods chooses obesity or diabetes. Many other lifestyle diseases also develop from what are regarded as normal activities, and indeed many people can do them without the disease resulting.
Addictions can be treated, with medication and counselling, and there are proven changes in brain chemistry involved. In fact, certain drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease can cause these changes in some people, turning them into uncontrollably compulsive gamblers, when previously they never even bought a lotto ticket.
Babies can be born alcohol or drug addicted. The condition certainly is physiological, not from “habit”.
Addiction is neither contagious nor caused by viruses, but that is not necessary for something to be classified as a disease. Addicts can no more cure themselves by “willpower” than others can make their kidney function improve, or their arteries unclog, by willpower.
Alcohol and other substances provide physical cause for the changes that create the addiction. These would be clearcut diseases. In the case of gambling, the cause is psychological rather than physiological, and could be classified as a “disorder” along with other compulsive
or delusional mental disorders (all of which respond to treatment with medications).
August 27th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
.more like a sickness.
August 27th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
In order to answer questions like these, I like to compare something like alcoholism to a universally accepted disease, such as cancer. Cancer can be genetic, completely random, or can be due to prolonged exposure to a harmful substance. Alcoholism is a proven genetic trait, and in some cases one can acquire alcoholism after only one bout of serious drinking. Also, if you or your friends are constantly drinking (”prolonged exposure”), the disease can be developed over time. Cancer affects the lives of its victims’ friends and family; alcoholism does the same. If cancer is not caught in a relatively early stage and treated, it could be severely fatal; same as alcoholism. So, I would say that alcoholism and other addictions along alcoholism’s lines should be regarded as a disease since it shares many correlations with ones that are universally accepted. The only difference in my mind between the two “diseases” compared is that one is able to stop alcoholism by seeking the proper treatment and engaging in healthy, non-detrimental living. If he/she has not done this, then it is still a disease but it is a disease brought on by him/herself.