Alcoholism - What is it?

 

Unfortunately, in our western society at large, there is still much shame and misunderstanding directed towards the alcoholic. Alcoholism is probably one of the most misunderstood diseases ever known to man. AA claims that alcoholism is a mental obsession coupled with a physical allergy. Alcohol is a legal consumable poison that we ingest, some of us put down a drink as soon as we start to feel the effects. Others will want to drink more, once they feel the effects.

Alcoholics Anonymous describes an alcoholic as a person who when he takes a drink of alcohol, it ignites the process of craving, and the alcoholic needs more. One drink is too much, and 1000 drinks are not enough. They go on to say, that the alcoholic has typically tried every form of control know to man. He will drink only at home, never at work, only wine and beer, try controlling the amount of drinks, drinking only on weekends, and we could add to the list without end.

 

Most individuals who have problems with alcohol never actually seek treatment. The average person who knows little about alcoholism, may believe that only the people who are have lost everything, including health, job, family and position in life are the ones living on the street and homeless. However, more disconcerting than many want to believe, our society is filled with "functioning" alcoholics.

 

We refer to "functioning", as men and women who are doctors, lawyers, house keepers, business owners, truck drives, pilots, home makes and dentists, just to name a few. We don't consider these people alcoholic because the "function" in life. If they have a problem with their drinking, perhaps a driving while intoxicated offence, it is handle with an attorney and quickly brushed under the rug as simply an unfortunate mishap.

 

That is one of the insidious things about the dis-ease of alcoholism. If our lives appear to look good on the outside, we have a hard time believing we are not in control of our drinking, and our lives. Additionally, this is one of the reasons most alcoholics have to "hit a bottom" in life, either socially or professionally before they will seek treatment. Often times this will include run ins with the authorities, loss of a job or career or perhaps divorce, etc.

 

What are the signs & symptoms of alcoholism?

 

Alcoholism is not having the ability to predict with any certainty what will happen each time we take a drink of alcohol

Alcoholism is feeling uncomfortable in most social settings without the aid of a drink, or many drinks or alcohol

Alcoholism promotes bad judgement, i.e.: driving under the influence, one night stands with people you would while sober not associate with

Alcoholism at work is drinking at lunch, coming in late, lack of productivity, making mistakes (this becomes life or death in the medical professions or when others lives our our responsibility

Alcoholism is hiding alcohol consumption or trying to minimize the amount consumed

Alcoholism ruins health

Alcoholism is involved with over 80% of all crimes committed

Alcoholism is not glamorous

Alcoholism is evident if one has ever experienced a "black out" and has no recollection of what they did while intoxicated

Alcoholism destroys lives, and everything in its path

Alcoholism is coupled by having an intense obsession with drinking, the sense of comfort the drink will provide, and the escape from reality

 

 

 

If an alcoholic wants to test himself (Alcoholics Anonymous), let him try to drink only one drink, and stop abruptly. If he can do that, he is probably not an alcoholic. When an alcoholic controls her drinking, she does not enjoy it. When she enjoys her drinking, she can't control it.

The Disease Concept of Alcoholism

The American Medical Association defines alcoholism as an illness or disease. Dr. David Ohlm, an expert in the field of alcoholism, has defined alcoholism as follows:

 

Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive, incurable disease characterized by loss of control over alcohol and other sedatives.

Chronic: Lasts a long time.

Progressive: Alcoholism goes through a series of increasing symptoms and it does not go away. It gets worse even after long periods of sobriety, and can be reactivated by a single drink.

 

Incurable: One can not return to normal drinking. One can return to a normal life, but only by stopping drinking.

 

Disease: A condition in which bodily health is impaired and interferes with the ability of the person to function normally.

 

Loss of control: Once the alcoholic takes that first drink after a period of being sober or abstinent, he/she can not predict with any reliability whether he/she is going to have a normal or abnormal drinking episode. Therefore, they do not control the alcohol, it controls them.

 

This is the major factor in defining alcoholism--can one predict their behavior every time they drink?

 

Rational Recovery does not believe alcoholism is a disease. We do not endorse one belief or the other at newliferecovery.net. If someone shows the inability to control their drinking, and the act is resulting in continued bad consequences, we support what ever method will work for an individual to get a handle on it. To read more about non 12 step approaches to recovery, click here.

 

 

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