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No way with the eye rolling. People who have that attitude have never known an alcoholic. It might be more of a genetic predisposition than a disease, but from the first drink, these people are lost. I come from a family full of them, including both grandmothers, one grandfather, and my father, and if I tell you the depths of it - I can only describe it that no one who could help themselves would live like alcoholics do. If you don't know what I mean, consider yourself lucky, but spare the rest of us the superior attitude.
Some people can overdrink and black out at times of too much alcohol but are not considered alcoholics.
Some people can drink one drink and never be able to stop. Is this an actual disease or is it a really bad habit? Seems to me that most of the people I know that overdrink would be considered alcoholic but they like the way alcohol makes them feel. So they do it and do it. When do they become an alcoholic? What differentiates an alcoholic from an over-drinker that can go months without drinking?
Speaking for myself I crossed the line from heavy drinker to alcoholic when the thought of a drink wouldn't leave me. I can't remember the number of times I told myself in the morning I wasn't going to drink that day but come 4 or 5 pm there I was...drinking.
I knew my drinking was causing me trouble. However, it wasn't until I became sick and tired of being sick and tired that I decided to check out AA. Just check it out. This was before the internet and I knew nothing of AA or the 12 steps.
But what I did know was step #1 hit me like a ton of bricks.
Yes, my life was unmanageable and I was powerless over what happens after that first drink. That much was clear from my first meeting.
Which isn't to say every time I drank bad things happens. But to say there had been enough disasters over the years that I never knew. Never knew when I'd cross that line and have one too many.
All said and done it's best I just don't pick up that first drink. Do I miss drinking? No. Not really. I never drank for the enjoyment of a few drinks. I never wanted just a couple of beers. I drank to get drunk.
There are many defintions of alcoholism. Maybe the most general and yet most accurate is that alcoholism is the conditon where one's drinking habits negatively affects their life-- ether physically, emotionally &/or socially.
It is certainly a disease with strong genetic causes, but like so many diseases, it obviously requires an interaction between genetic & environmental factors. (You can't suffer the effects of alcoholic genes if you don't drink.)
Some people can overdrink and black out at times of too much alcohol but are not considered alcoholics.
Some people can drink one drink and never be able to stop. Is this an actual disease or is it a really bad habit? Seems to me that most of the people I know that overdrink would be considered alcoholic but they like the way alcohol makes them feel. So they do it and do it. When do they become an alcoholic? What differentiates an alcoholic from an over-drinker that can go months without drinking?
Alcoholism is a disease about as much as procrastination, laziness and rudeness are diseases. Diseases must have a different definition in the modern world.
My mom is a recovering Alcoholic. This month 3 years sober. Very tough for her. it started in 2008 after after brother died. Before this she drank casually. She quit once before but it only last a year and a half. She would buy a 1 gallon jug of tito's vodka every week and drink it over ice. She never drank and drove. She would have 2 drinks when she got home from work but on weekends she would go on a bender and drink from 7am until she went to bed at 10 pm. if she was off from work for a week vacation she would drink from sun up to sun down. It made her forget her problems and helped her deal with the death of her brother and my dad who died in 2004. as an adult child it was very difficult to deal with. In 2012 she fell at home and broke her leg because she was drinking and in 2018 fell and broke her shoulder because she was drinking. Thankfully her shoulder healed well on it's own without surgery. This last injury finally woke my mom up and she quit drinking the next day. Alcoholism is a disease. It can run in families. My aunt is one also.
Your mom has an addiction to alcohol that is for sure. To me a disease is not something you can wake up one morning and simply decide you are not going to be affected by it any longer. It would be great if cancer worked that way. Name another disease that you can just will power it away? The case could be made for calling alcohol a disease works for gambling, meth, heroin even opiates. Even food. The 600 pound life people have the same struggle with food that your mom has with booze.
Last edited by Oklazona Bound; 11-09-2021 at 04:26 AM..
You didn't give any explanation as to why you think that.
She quit so does she still have a disease?
yes she still has the disease. Once you quit you are not cured. You can fall back to old habits very quickly
Why is it so important to you that we give you an explanation as to whether or not it is a disease?
yes she still has the disease. Once you quit you are not cured. You can fall back to old habits very quickly
Why is it so important to you that we give you an explanation as to whether or not it is a disease?
Bad habits aren't disease. Bouncing checks is a bad habit. So is charging more than you can pay off. Not a disease either, though you'll find it in the ever-growing DSM somewhere.
Unfortunately the word disease has come to mean any behavior or group of thoughts and behaviors that so-called medical professionals think they can treat, whether they can treat it successfully or not. They always have a fallback when they fail: its the disease's fault.
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