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Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Is Alcoholism a disease or a behavior?

  • Total voters
    39
Guy Incognito said:
Sure thing. I can't wait to hear your professional medical opinion, doctor.
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So, in lieu of adhering my own opinion, I can just accept yours, doctor?
 

Well, it's not solely based on genetics.

A person can never smoke a cigarette in their life but if they have a predisposition in their family for cancer, they are predisposed to getting it. This predisposition is biological in nature.

But if a person never has a case of cancer in their immediate family but smokes a carton of cigarettes a week, then they are predisposed to getting it. This predisposition is behavioral in nature.

Again, that's why I hate the false dichotomy that this polls makes people assume. Alcoholism isn't an either/or thing. For some people it can be biological, but for other people it can be behavioral.

So your brother "drinking his problems away" may, indeed be behavioral. But that doesn't mean that other people's alcoholism isn't biological in nature.
 

Here's what you don't understand, though - one thing can be caused by both physical factors and psychological factors.

Take, for example, bad moods. Most people may think that a person is in a bad mood because he has some kind of behavioral problem,. such as he expects too much from other people and when he doesn't get what he feels entitled to he gets irked by it and lashes out at people.

But a bad mood can also be caused by physical symptoms as well. As any woman who is suffering from cramps can tell you. Their bad mood is caused by the physical pain and the bad mood isn't their normal behavior but rather is their way of dealing with that pain.

So we have one issue but it has two different causes.
 

I take the South Park explanation for this. Alcoholism is not a disease, it's a behavior of abuse. To not be an alcoholic, you simply need to not drink as much. Some people have a large problem with this due to the addiction of alcohol both chemically and psychologically, and/or an inability to self control.

When people call it a disease, I always think of Randy Marsh in his wheelchair.
 
Ikari said:
To not be an alcoholic, you simply need to not drink as much. Some people have a large problem with this due to the addiction of alcohol both chemically and psychologically, and/or an inability to self control.
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No matter how severe your drinking problem is, if you can just choose not to drink as much, you are not an alcoholic. Two separate concepts.
 
Dezaad said:
So, in lieu of adhering my own opinion, I can just accept yours, doctor?
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You don't need to accept mine, especially since I didn't give one. But I did provide you with a real doctor's opinion, Dr. Appleton's, which you have no evidence or credentials to refute.
 
It's behaviour and disease. The behaviour is acquired and then it's a disease because it results in dysfunction and mental imbalance.
 
I believe it is learned behavior. Now, bad habits are hard to break, and even this addiction can become slightly physical due to the release of endorphins and other brain stimuli. However, I find it hard to compare alcoholism to any real addictive drug such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, or even smoking. I have met many who drank too much too often who turned their lives around because something in their life changed. I think you'd find that most alcoholics have an underlying issue that is causing them to drink.

But I am not a psychiatrist, that's for sure.
 

You have just identified the stigma that those with mental disorders suffer. There is nothing different between mental and physical disorders... both have the same kinds of impacts, both cause visible symptoms, both impact functioning, both may be caused by problems inside the body, whether it be chemical, physical, or mental.

Further, no one "recovers" from alcoholism. They are in a state of recovery... when they are not using. It's not an issue that goes away, if one is an alcoholic. It's not about the behavior. It's about the state of being. No one forces someone to drink, but even if they are not drinking, that doesn't mean they are NOT an alcoholic.
 

This is an excellent description of alcoholism. The choice lies in picking up the first drink. After that, the addictive process takes over.
 

You don't understand the addictive process and the compulsion to act on the desire. There is genetic coding that indicates that one DOES have a predisposition to become addicted. Once one begins to drink, this DOES force them to be addicted. Further, beyond the genetic coding, the excitement of opioid receptors in the brain certainly forces those who are predisposed to continue to use. It is certainly brain chemistry that forces one to continue to partake in addictive behavior.

Now, do people who do NOT have the genetic coding that makes them predisposed to addiction, can they become addicted? Yes. It is less likely, but, they can. As their usage increases, this will also trigger brain chemical reactions, especially in the opioid receptors that will create addictive reactions.
 
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Guy Incognito said:
You don't need to accept mine, especially since I didn't give one. But I did provide you with a real doctor's opinion, Dr. Appleton's, which you have no evidence or credentials to refute.
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Just so you know, as far as I could tell, Dr. Appleton is a doctor of Sociology.
 
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