Alcoholism; A disease or a behavior?

[Toxick]

I think it really depends on what your definition of a "disease" is.

If you say that a disease is only something like leprosy or pneumonia, then alcoholism does not qualify. It's obviously not a germ or anything catching.

However, if you would consider things like OCD or Bipolar Disorder a disease, then I would argue that alcoholism falls in that category. In fact, I believe that I, myself, have a predisposition toward alcoholism. I say that "I believe" this, because I have never allowed myself to find out.

For a while, I avoided alcohol like a pox. Before that I used to drink a lot. A really whole lot. I never got to the point where I would wake up surrounded by empty bottles wondering what I did the night before - I never woke up with a dead hooker in my trunk and no idea how she got there - but I could see myself very easily descending in a spiral that ends with me waking up in an alley with trash stuck to my head by the dried remains of my own drunken vomit.

These days I allow myself to have a beer or two when I'm at a barbecue, or when I go out to dinner or something, but if I ever find myself wishing I was drunk, or fantasizing about being drunk, it's back to the teetotaler lifestyle for me. I'm terrified of becoming an alcholic, because I believe that after you hit a certain point, there's no stopping it.

I have no desire to test this theory.


Anyway - I say disease. IMO, it's a mental disease akin to OCD.

 

[vraiblonde]

Anyway - I say disease. IMO, it's a mental disease akin to OCD.

An uncontrolled compulsion - I'll go for that.

 

[Toxick]

You cannot just stop having cancer or diabetes or whatever.

Actually....

 

[Larry Gude]

So then, for discussion sake, are you of the mind that it has been classified a disease for its profitability or some other reason?

I understand the argument that it is a disease. I just don't agree with it. That said, I further understand designating it as a disease with the intent and goal of getting treatment for it before it starts destroying your body and giving the body real diseases.

Are we better off with increased awareness of alcohol and the mental components of it, be what they may, due to the disease/behavior debate? I think so. I think understanding it, clearly, as behavior and the process of owning that behavior has come out of that debate.

The problem now, and my reasoning for the thread, is the implications for the new medical system and the desire to have it be free, the public option, and better accessibility. It's fine when an individual figures out how to pay for a months vacation at a clinic to dry out. When that becomes a public right, the economic implications should be apparent.

To me, this is like welfare; the intent is a helping hand but, it becomes a hand out. The acceptance of behavior as a disease, once the new health care system comes into being, will make SS and Medicare look like minor economic problems.

It could be the last straw and break the back of America and the ideas of freedom, and responsibility, that afforded us the opportunity to not hold people responsible.

 

[Sonsie]

Actually....

Depends on the type, Type 1 has nothing to do with being a fatty or diet.

Type 1 diabetes (also called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes) is caused by autoimmune destruction of the B cells of the pancreas which normally secrete insulin.​

 

[libertytyranny]

Depends on the type, Type 1 has nothing to do with being a fatty or diet.

Type 1 diabetes (also called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes) is caused by autoimmune destruction of the B cells of the pancreas which normally secrete insulin.​

type 2 can also be found in otherwise healthy individuals. Her comment, however was in response to mine..and we were talking about sheer force of will.

 

[Toxick]

Depends on the type, Type 1 has nothing to do with being a fatty or diet.

Type 1 diabetes (also called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes) is caused by autoimmune destruction of the B cells of the pancreas which normally secrete insulin.​

Yeah - I'm well versed in diabeetus. I had it. As did (does) my father, his mother, her father.... My cousin has very aggressive Type 1. Everyone else I mentioned had type 2. I am the only one who has shaken it off, but it is most definitly gone.

Anyway, I got the gist of the argument. I was just being a smartass.

 

[Sonsie]

type 2 can also be found in otherwise healthy individuals. Her comment, however was in response to mine..and we were talking about sheer force of will.

Mine was in response to Toxick who appeared to be implying that you could just stop having diabetes.

 

[Sonsie]

Yeah - I'm well versed in diabeetus. I had it. As did (does) my father, his mother, her father.... My cousin has very aggressive Type 1. Everyone else I mentioned had type 2. I am the only one who has shaken it off, but it is most definitly gone.

Anyway, I got the gist of the argument. I was just being a smartass.

A good childhood friend of mine had type 1, terrible thing for a kid to have to deal with.

 

[libertytyranny]

Mine was in response to Toxick who appeared to be implying that you could just stop having diabetes.

I know. I was helpin you out

 

[MMDad]

Wirelessly posted (Change we can believe in!: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.7) 320x240; VZW; Motorola-Q9c; Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard)

Alcoholism is a disease that is brought on by a choice. If someone doesn't drink, they will not become alcoholic. If they are predisposed to alcoholism and drink, they will likely develop the disease.

No different than 90% of type 2 diabetes. If they are predisposed to type 2 diabetes but never become overweight, that 90% will probably not develop the disease.

 

[gary_webb]

I voted other because I didn't see an catagory for Hobby.