Anonymous Author – Alcoholism isn’t a disease

Saying It’s a Disease Doesn’t Make It One. Alcoholism is serious, it can cause many problems and destroy peoples lives. This does not, however, qualify it as a disease.

Alcoholism is a choice, you can choose to seek recovery, or you can choose to continue drinking, but it is a choice, and to label it as a disease strips alcoholics of their ability to choose. It would seem to someone who thinks through an idea rationally, that in order to classify something as a disease you must first be able to measure its symptoms and other characteristics. The symptoms are only seen after imbibing alcohol, and not before, and the symptoms of alcohol abuse do not differ between abusers and non abusers. If they both get drunk they both have the same effects, have the same impaired judgment, etc. The only difference is that one of them will do it more frequently and this will put a strain on his life and his health.

The DSM IV (the manual psychologists use to classify and diagnose disorders) includes and entry for alcoholism, and in its array of symptoms there are no physical manifestations that one should look for. It shows us a purely social/psychological manifestation of a psychological disorder. Many people in the medical field attempt to make many of life’s problems into diseases. This allows for more funding for new ideas, more selling opprotunities, more drugs, and essentially just more money. It is obviously beneficial to those involved, but it hurts society. By turning personal problems into diseases it serves to strip people of their responsibility to help themselves, as well as societies need to recognize their problem for what it is and help them.

Anonymous Author

For a much more in depth discussion please read:

Is alcoholism a disease

and

What is an addiction

Raging Alcoholic