Alcoholism Should Not Be Viewed As A Disease :: essays research papers fc

Most great deal have a confused conceit of drink as a ailment that invades or attacks your good health. economic inspiration of such a strong word such as " malady" shapes the values and attitudes of society towards boozers. A major implication of the disease pattern is that what is labeled a "disease" is held to be justifiable because it is involuntary. This is not so. bother drink is a habit in which the so-called "alcoholic" but has decided that the benefits of drinking outweigh the liabilities it is all a matter of face-to-face choice. An alcoholic participates in or causes many of their own problems by their doings and the decisions they make, so why should they be viewed as helpless victims of a "disease"(Skipper 1)? Alcoholism should not be viewed as a disease, but as an addiction brought about by the alcoholics personal choices.What is wrong with disease theories as science is that they are tautologies they avoid the work of under standing why people drink. People seek specific, essential human experiences from their addictive closeness. They can decrease to depend on such an involvement for these experiences until -- in the extreme -- the involvement is totally consuming and potentially destructive (Peele 146). The idea that drunkenness is a "disease", which is only typified by the loss of work, was only sanctioned by the American Medical Association in 1956 (Wilbanks 39). The AMA gives the following definition for alcoholism " Alcoholism is an illness characterized by preoccupation with alcohol and loss of control over its consumption, such as to lead usually to intoxication if drinking by chronicity, by progression and by a tendency toward relapse. It is typically associated with physical disability and impaired emotional, occupational and/or social adjustments as a direct consequence of persistent excessive use (Langone 27)". This meant that an alcoholic could now get help in a hospita l, just as a person with a real disease such as diabetes or leukemia would . Moreover, the use of the words "loss of control" make it expect as though the alcoholics part with will has just been ripped away from him. On the contrary, there is no evidence that the will of the drinker has been overpowered. Besides labeling alcoholism as a disease, the AMA has also done a huge erroneous belief in stating that alcoholism causes people to lose control over the consumption of alcohol. This will only negate the fact that the amount of alcohol consumed and if it is consumed at all is completely up to the drinker, not an inevitable disease that overpowers your free will.