Alcoholism as a disease gives a framework for treating the condition. Why is alcoholism considered a disease? There are several criteria:
1. alcoholism progresses on a predictable course--progressively worse
2. it has recognized symptoms
3. alcoholism is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors
4. has been accepted by medical and psychiatric communities as a disease
5. it is a primary, chronic, and often fatal condition
If alcoholism is a "mental condition", then alcohol abusers who resolve the causing condition should be able to drink normally again. This is rare, if ever, the case. Alcoholics process alcohol differently than non-alcoholics. Dealing with mental conditions does not allow a true alcoholic to return to drinking safely.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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I think the checklist above is out of date, based on Dr. Mark Willenbring's recent columns for the NY Times. Willenbring, of the NIAAA, says the latest data indicate that alcohol dependency does not progress inexorably downward for all, but rather is most often a temporary condition that the vast majority (some 70 percent) of abusers resolve on their own. They return to moderate habits without intervention - and without the stigma of being labeled with a "disease."
Anyone who wants to say alcohol abuse is a "disease" the way cancer is a disease should turn the argument on its head. Would you tell a cancer patient he had a "disease - just like alcoholism"? The absurdity is clear.
Let's do away with this damaging and outdated "disease" notion of alcohol abuse once and for all.
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