Why is alcoholism considered a disease?

• why? i never really understood this. alcoholism is, by official definition, "a physical and emotional addiction to alcohol". howis that a disease? its an addiction. does that mean all addictions are diseases? everything you put into your body can change your mental state and change your brain. addiction to chocolate has been proven to change your brain, so is that a disease as well? please explain! my mom doesnt believe it is a disease. she believes that its simply and addiction, that can be given up if one learns self control. so...do you believe is it a disease, and if you believe it is a disease, why is it considered a disease?

• Answer:

  Because some people are born with a certain gene, that makes them addictive to alcohol. Thus, the disease. More and more research indicates that genes and chemical make-up may contribute and possibly trigger addictive behaviors. A true alcoholic doesn't have the choice of whether or not to drink; it's a physical addiction. Alcoholism is now accepted as a disease. It is a chronic and often progressive disease. Like many diseases, it has symptoms that include a strong need to drink despite negative consequences, such as serious job or health problems. Like many diseases, it has a generally predictable course and is influenced by both genetic (inherited) and environmental factors. Alcoholism is inherited. Alcoholism tends to run in families and genetic factors partially explain this pattern. The genes that influence the vulnerability to alcoholism are under investigation Alcoholism is an environmental disease. A person's environment, such as the influence of friends, stress levels, and the ease of obtaining alcohol, may influence their drinking and the development of alcoholism. Still other factors, such as social support, may help to protect even high-risk people from alcohol problems. Alcoholics tend to solve emotional problems by drinking. Alcohol addiction is also a physical disease, probably of an allergic nature, . . . consider the main cause to be emotional maladjustment. It is an atttempt on the part of the alcoholics to solve emotional problems by drinking. An alcoholic should be regarded as a sick person, just as one who is suffering from tuberculosis, cancer, heart disease, or other serious chronic disorder. The body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind.There is a sense of powerlessness over alcohol, the surrender to hopelessness and desperation. .and a sense of out of self- control. The term alcoholic may trouble some, but we need not get into distinctions between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, problem drinking or chronic alcoholism. Drinkers who can stop drinking but who apparently cannot stay stopped. They want to stop getting drunk. They mean to stop getting drunk. They resolve to stop getting drunk. But their experience tells them, time and time and time again, that they cannot stop getting drunk. They are not looking here for scientific precision: but the goal is rather human experience At times, scientists, clinicians and others debate whether or not to call alcoholism a “disease.” Usage of the term is usually acceptable if it is properly defined. When one considers the wide scope of damage that alcoholism does to the human body, mind and spirit, the condition can, indeed, be legitimately described as having become a disease. Over a period of time, alcohol abuse alters brain-cell function, induces nerve damage, shrinks the cerebral cortex, imbalances the hormonal system and damages vital organs. Scientists have found that repetitive alcohol abuse wreaks a certain common havoc on the psyche that is perhaps even more insidious than the damage sustained by the liver, the heart and other vital organs. During early and middle stages, alcoholics may be able to function, but their productivity will be progressively hampered; their psychological disequilibrium will magnify small problems and render them unable to cope effectively with stress. This altered state of psyche will prevent them from seeing the reality of a situation and thwart the normal process of emotional maturing that enables people to assimilate and learn from lessons of experience. The condition of alcoholics changes them into people who think, act and feel differently than they should. Because alcohol blurs effective insight into the way alcoholics look on things, it is commonly impossible for others to reach them about what their drinking is doing until they “hit the bottom” or are confronted with a serious problem. Victims are so dependent upon alcohol to function or feel well that they feel there is nothing abnormal about their drinking. They delude themselves (perhaps one should say, lie to themselves) that they don’t have a drinking problem. Many feel this way because they aren’t derelicts or Skid Row types. Some of the most serious diseases associated with chronic alcohol abuse include cancer of the liver, larynx, esophagus, stomach, colon and breast. Alcoholism may also lead to high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack; damage to the brain, pancreas and kidney; produce stomach and duodenal ulcers, colitis, birth defects and fetal alcohol syndrome, impotence and infertility, premature aging, sleep disturbances, muscle cramps, diminished immunity and other diseases.such as cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis; pancreatitis, GI bleeding; and liver and kidney failure.and DT's( delirium tremens) Alcohol abuse and cigarettes are one of the worst possible combinations, greatly increasing the risk of heart disease and cancer. Calling the condition of alcoholism a disease is not a cop-out for alcoholics. To the contrary, when alcoholics become aware of the far-reaching damaging effects of their condition to their own minds, lives, families and society, they have more responsibility, not less, for seeking treatment. My answer is well supported by a lot of reading materials and my very own nursing experience with alcoholics.