Alcoholism Disease Or Not
Alcoholism has been recognized for many years by professional medical organizations as a primary chronic progressive and sometimes fatal disease.
Alcoholism disease or not. Excessive drinking can cause physical disease and involve physical dependence without therefore being a disease itself. Best regarded as a disease. Benjamin rush who in the 1800s was the first to claim alcoholism was a disease also claimed that being of african. The official niaaa position is that alcoholism is a disease.
Once you label somebody as having. To make matters worse generally it denies it exists and resists treatment. There is a specific and a general version of. Research has shown that alcoholism is a choice not a disease and stripping alcohol abusers of their choice by applying the disease concept is a threat to the health of the individual.
This could constitute an abuse problem but not necessarily the disease of alcoholism. Who says alcoholism is not a disease a national study of doctors in the united states reported in the road to recovery asked them what proportion of alcoholism is a disease and what proportion is a personal weakness. The craving that an alcoholic feels for alcohol can be as strong as the need for food or water. One of the early founders of aa whose program is based around the disease concept was marty mann.
An alcoholic will continue to drink despite serious family health or legal problems. When alcoholism becomes a disease. The brain has been physically altered by extended exposure to alcohol causing it to function differently and therefore creating addictive behavior. It can be difficult to determine when alcohol use becomes alcoholism but in the simplest terms it s often when a person loses control over their use of alcohol.
The average proportion thought to be personal weakness was 31 percent. Though there may be no easy cure for alcoholism or alcohol use disorder the condition is treatable. The disease concept oozes into every crevice of our society perpetuating harmful misinformation that hurts the very people it was intended to help. Alcoholism is not a disease dr.
Whether or not alcoholism is a curable disease is a common question among many including those dealing with addiction as well as loved ones and friends who might be trying to help someone with the disease. You may start drinking casually and then more heavily. As alcoholism is an addiction it is considered a disease of the brain. It doesn t look sound smell and it certainly doesn t act like a disease.