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#61
02-10-2007, 08:11 AM
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Re: The \"disease\" of alcoholism.
What about OCD, Obsesive Compulsive Disorder, where the person finds himself compelled to check whether he locked the door before going to sleep - 1000 times every night. Is this a disease? All he has to do is make up his mind not to check the door anymore. Isn't alchoholism somewhat similiar?
PairTheBoard 
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#64
02-10-2007, 10:06 AM
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Re: The \"disease\" of alcoholism.
[ QUOTE ]
What about OCD, Obsesive Compulsive Disorder, where the person finds himself compelled to check whether he locked the door before going to sleep - 1000 times every night. Is this a disease? All he has to do is make up his mind not to check the door anymore. Isn't alchoholism somewhat similiar? [/ QUOTE ] I'm going to go ahead and bring up anorexia nervosa again, because it's highly analogous and people actually die from it. OCD might be better in that there's stronger evidence that it's neurological (that is, physical, that is, "real").
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#65
02-10-2007, 11:10 AM
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Re: The \"disease\" of alcoholism.
[ QUOTE ]
What about OCD, Obsesive Compulsive Disorder, where the person finds himself compelled to check whether he locked the door before going to sleep - 1000 times every night. Is this a disease? All he has to do is make up his mind not to check the door anymore. Isn't alchoholism somewhat similiar? PairTheBoard [/ QUOTE ] Very different kind of compulsion. With alcohol you're seeking out a substance to satisfy internal cravings or dull feelings - it becomes a behavior of habit and eventually your brain starts needing it to function properly. If you take away the substance, eventually the patient will improve and the addiction/compulsion will lessen. None of this is true of OCD. Regarding anorexia - that is actually a disease, because an anorexic's self image becomes so distorted that they lose touch with reality. Alcoholism is different. Alcoholics make a choice to drink - they're actively seeking out moods and feelings, and alcohol helps them get to that state. They crave the alcohol state and will do almost anything to stay there. Is that crazy? Kind of. But underlying it all is an emotional choice to wallow in self loathing or self pity or cowardice, to take the easy way out. None of the other disorders, once they're sufficiently advanced, have this trait.
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#67
02-10-2007, 12:10 PM
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Re: The \"disease\" of alcoholism.
[ QUOTE ]
Very different kind of compulsion. With alcohol you're seeking out a substance to satisfy internal cravings or dull feelings - it becomes a behavior of habit and eventually your brain starts needing it to function properly. If you take away the substance, eventually the patient will improve and the addiction/compulsion will lessen. None of this is true of OCD. Regarding anorexia - that is actually a disease, because an anorexic's self image becomes so distorted that they lose touch with reality. Alcoholism is different. Alcoholics make a choice to drink - they're actively seeking out moods and feelings, and alcohol helps them get to that state. They crave the alcohol state and will do almost anything to stay there. Is that crazy? Kind of. But underlying it all is an emotional choice to wallow in self loathing or self pity or cowardice, to take the easy way out. None of the other disorders, once they're sufficiently advanced, have this trait. [/ QUOTE ] There it is.
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#68
02-10-2007, 03:47 PM
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Re: The \"disease\" of alcoholism.
[ QUOTE ]
If you take away the substance, eventually the patient will improve and the addiction/compulsion will lessen. [/ QUOTE ] What? This is factually false. Especially if taken literally - alcohol withdrawal is deadly. The rest is not factually supported. It's hard to refute because it's so subjective. But based on your tone I doubt you've ever experienced anything as difficult as the alcoholic's "easy way out." Care to explain where and how you draw the distinction? If you're doing it arbitrarily then it certainly won't be productive to suggest other analogous disorders.
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#69
02-10-2007, 04:37 PM
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Re: The \"disease\" of alcoholism.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] What about OCD, Obsesive Compulsive Disorder, where the person finds himself compelled to check whether he locked the door before going to sleep - 1000 times every night. Is this a disease? All he has to do is make up his mind not to check the door anymore. Isn't alchoholism somewhat similiar? PairTheBoard [/ QUOTE ] Very different kind of compulsion. With alcohol you're seeking out a substance to satisfy internal cravings or dull feelings - it becomes a behavior of habit and eventually your brain starts needing it to function properly. If you take away the substance, eventually the patient will improve and the addiction/compulsion will lessen. None of this is true of OCD. Regarding anorexia - that is actually a disease, because an anorexic's self image becomes so distorted that they lose touch with reality. Alcoholism is different. Alcoholics make a choice to drink - they're actively seeking out moods and feelings, and alcohol helps them get to that state. They crave the alcohol state and will do almost anything to stay there. Is that crazy? Kind of. But underlying it all is an emotional choice to wallow in self loathing or self pity or cowardice, to take the easy way out. None of the other disorders, once they're sufficiently advanced, have this trait. [/ QUOTE ] And none of the others have the trait of consuming enough alcohol to lead to detrimental consequences. So what? Don't you think you are working really hard to find some specific trait that alcoholism doesn't share with other diseases, and then trumping that trait up as if it is the key, defining characteristic of a 'disease?'
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#70
02-10-2007, 07:25 PM
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Re: The \"disease\" of alcoholism.
I am a recovering alcoholic, have been clean for 25yrs.
I read somewhere that alcoholism progresses in the body even after one has quit drinking. It went on to explain that if you drank for 15 years, quit for 10, and had a drink, that drink would affect your mind and body as if you had been drinking steady for 25 years. If that is true, that would lend credence to the disease theory, I would think.
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