Alcoholism Recovery & Treatment

Question by Alice.: Do you consider Alcoholism a disease?
I don’t.
People know what they are doing and they can stop it if they have enough willpower. Whether it’s through help or just by them alone.

Best answer:

Answer by Mason K
It’s not a disease, but it is a symptom of laziness.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Question by Shyanne: im setting up an argumentative essay on why alcoholism should be consider an disease i don’ t know how 2 start
I trying to find out what should be my 3 major points. Im not traditional college student im 44 years old and this is becoming very frustrating

Best answer:

Answer by Short3Gears
Good luck… you’d be better off arguing that it is NOT a disease. It is (IMHO) an addiction like drugs and cigarrettes and food…
It runs in the family – that is one excuse for calling it a disease… but it is more monkey see monkey do and lack of will power…

30 year alcoholic 1 years dry and happy about it… no meds, no AA, just motivation… Motivation does not cure disease… People that quit drinking… just that… they quit… you can’t quit a disease. AA is a good thing for many – it helps them quit with support and helps with motivation – it does not CURE anything physical and a disease is physical – even a mental disease has physical causes… alcoholism does not – unless you find proof and prove me wrong… there is no proof that I am aware of and I have studied it while trying to quit myself…

As for the other posters’ responses so far, you can NOT call the resulting sickness and DT’s part of the “disease” of alcoholism… they are the after effect – not the original problem of drinking tooo much.

Point #1: it is an addiction. Like cigaretts and drugs and food. So far I have never heard anyone say smoking tobacco is a disease.
Point #2: It runs in the family. Daddy drinks, son drinks. Or it ’skips’ a generation – Granpa died an alcoholic, daddy over compensated and did not drink, and the next generation went overboard not learning how to drink proper from daddy (ok, I admit that is a long shot explanation
Point #3: People QUIT drinking. Diseases can not be ‘quit’.
Point #4: Detox, meds to combat drinking, therapy, AA, liver failure, brain damage ARE ALL causes of over drinking. They ARE NOT the cause of drinking (alcoholism). – smoking causes lung cancer and heart disease – is smoking a disease…. ?? and people also quit smoking… etc etc etc…

ps. I sound angry about this so called alcoholic ‘Disease’ because I am angry. I made it through computer systems engineering while being an alcoholic. I paid for my own schooling. I tried AA. There were other alcoholics in AA ONLY because they had to register going – Why??? Because they filed with Massachusetts as ALCOHOLICS and GOT FEE TUITION, FEES, and ROOM and BOARD under the guise of having a DISABILITY – DISEASE – ALCOHOLISM… I call that pure BS… I made it on my own, they could have too… and I didn’t quit drinking till 10 years later… (not sure when/if they did… but they said they were in AA and NOT drinking… but STILL had the “disability”!!!!

What do you think? Answer below!

Me and my mother are having this debate. She says alcoholism is a disease. I disagree. I think it’s an addiction that can cause a disease – such as liver damage, etc. But do not think it’s a disease on its own. To me, saying that alcoholism is a disease is like saying an addiction like smoking is a disease. Just trying to get some thoughts on this.

I should also add that my father, who I love to death, is an alcoholic and I am not saying anything bad about people who are alcoholics. I know it’s a horrible addiction. I’m really just trying to see what other people think. Thank you!!

Just wondering, most of my family on my mother’s side are alcoholic, just want to see if I am already there.

Also, please state your reasons for your view point.

Random question out of curiosity. Please be respectful of other answers.