Many people call alcoholism a disease. If it is a disease, then it is the only
disease without germ or virus, the only one that is bottled and sold over the
counter for a profit and brings in tax revenue for the government, state, county
and state. If it is a disease, then it is the only disease that turns our boys
into criminals and our girls into prostitutes. Why is it that we do not call
cocaine or heroin addiction a disease? Because, to do that would be absolutely
ridiculous. We know that is not the truth. Why is this same standard not applied
to the most dangerous drug manifest in this country, “alcohol”?
Those who have become alcoholics did not become so overnight it all started
by taking that one drink, and that put them on the road to drunkenness. Webster
defines alcoholism as “the habitual drinking of alcoholic liquor to excess,
or a diseased condition caused by this.”
At face value this seems to be an accurate description of someone with alcoholism.
Ask most people and they would agree with this definition. However, there are
some discrepancies and misinformation in our current use of the term alcoholism
that need to be acknowledged. Mainly that alcoholism is not a disease, but a
belief. Nowhere has it been proven that the disease exists. Read any literature
and the results will not confidently state it is a disease. They will only speculate.
The following is a quick and realistic look at "alcoholism". Alcoholism
is not a disease, find out how many have already realized that alcoholism and
addiction is a choice.
Alcoholism carries with it a stigma that says the person afflicted cannot control
their use of alcohol, they are powerless over alcohol, they are spiritually
lacking and need to surrender their will to a higher power, and that they have
a disease for the rest of their life.
It is unfortunate that we have transformed the term "alcoholism"
into a limited definition of a disease. For though it is not a disease, the
mere fact that people believe it is a disease, makes it harder for them to escape
it's clutches. I believe it does a disservice to those who struggle with alcohol
or drugs because it promotes powerlessness and dependency. To look at alcoholism
as it truly is (a belief) is to understand and take control of our own individual
role in overcoming it. Beliefs can be powerful, but so can the truth. Find out
how the majority of those who once struggled with alcohol and drugs changed
their lives, and refused to acknowledge alcoholism as a disease.
Many disease model spokespersons are recovered alcoholics and have an emotional
investment in viewing themselves as helpless to their own behaviors. A majority
of these people are seriously lacking in scientific backgrounds. They say scientific
validity ''interferes with the process'' of helping people who need help and
claim special qualification to help others. They perceive any challenge to the
disease concept as ''a challenge to the validity of their own emotional ordeal
and conversion to sobriety.''
The treatment industry also has a substantial economic investment in maintaining
the disease concept. As long as alcoholism is considered a disease, medical
insurance pays for treating it.
Is the disease model of alcoholism scientific? No. Simply calling behavior
a disease process does not make it one, even if doing so assists in creating
sobriety. Is the treatment policy based on bad science? Yes. Is there any chance
that this attitude will change in the near future? Very unlikely.
