I have trouble calling alcoholism a disease. My father was one and it ruined all our lives...right down the generations. My mother was abused...forget bringing dates or friends home...the only date that could come was either a drinker or the child of a drinker which was a lifetime of unhappiness for me because it goes right down to the children. It's not a disease! It's a disgusting weakness!
shareit's a drug.
share[deleted]
I can sympathize that you have personal experience that interferes with your ability to logically process the concept of alcoholism. It's a disease whether you have trouble accepting it or not.
shareSure, but a self-inflicted disease.
shareBeing genetically predisposed to alcoholism is not self-inflicted, anymore than being predisposed to mental illness or diabetes is.
Behavioral patterns shape up in conjunction with individual biology and environmental interactions and triggers.
Some folks think not bending the elbow is all that it takes, but that shows a very limited understanding of alcoholism, and of human biology and behavior.
"Much communication in a motion, without conversation or a notion"
I truly believe that I am an alcoholic. I come from a family of them, both sides. My alcoholic father made our lives a constant nightmare growing up. I, too never thought of it as a disease, until I came down with it myself in my thirties. I eventually ended up in a mental hospital having the same DTs as Joe, more than once. I know now that addiction is a genetic disorder and I was primed for having it. After the last time I was hospitalized and went through the horrible DTs, (Padded room, straight jacket and the whole works) I understood. And so after the last time I just plain stopped drinking entirely. I'm now 70 years old, and have tried taking a glass of red wine occasionally to help lower my cholesterol, but the horror of the past keeps coming back and I can't even swallow it. If I take a sip, I get nauseous. My daughter, through her husband who was also an addict, got into it and added drug addiction to it, carrying on the family disease. She was able to overcome it for now, but the potential of it happening to her again is always there, just like it is for me. We should watch my granddaughter carefully, as both her parents have the genes for addiction. (Her father died when, while drunk, he wandered onto the railroad tracks and was hit by the train). Everyone should understand that it is indeed a disease. I'm not certain that addiction is always genetic, but in my case it definitely is. But it's absolutely a disorder and a disease, just like diabetes or heart disease. AA didn't work for me, but it did for my daughter. Each of us needed to find what worked for us. I'm not sure exactly what worked for me, but I'm only glad something did.
share