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Alcoholism: Do you think or feel alcoholism and substance abuse is a weakness or

LightSun

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Do you think or feel alcoholism and substance abuse is a weakness or a disease?

We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.” Carl Jung
 

ceecee

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You could say that addiction is a psychological weakness, that's about as far as that theory goes. Alcoholism has been considered an illness since the 1950's so I don't think many health care professionals will approach this from a weakness that needs tough love aspect either. My own feeling is that there are addictive personalities and that the one size fits all treatment for alcoholism often replaces one addiction with another. Treatments like AA do not address any of the psychiatric and biochemical issues at the root of chronic alcoholism. Most treatment is not in sync with the medical data and research. Until then, the best approach is going to be addiction replacement, hopefully with a less destructive addiction.
 

prplchknz

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I feel it's a disease. and calling someone weak for being an alcholic just makes it worse, a lot of them if they could stop probably would stop. you can be a heavy drinker and if you're able to quit with little to no problem then you're not an acholoic but if you can't and/or get withrawl symptoms than you are one and need help, if you go through withdrawl you probably need to go to a detox center because you can die.
 

PumpkinMayCare

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I think it depends on the circumstances though. I've met people who are irresponsible and immature and have a wha wha woe is me kind of attitude and drown their problems in alcohol rather than adress the problems at hand because that's easier and doesn't force them to stretch themselves.
Then I met people with really tragic stories that lost all control in their lives and turned to alcohol out of helplesness. There's a difference between those. There was once a man I met who couldn't get to cope with his cancer diagnosis and started to drink heavily. Vs one I met who partied too much as a teenager and got suspended from school because he was missing too often and instead of just going back to school a few years later he mooched off of his wive after his parents threw him out of the house and sat at home drinking all day long while she was working and demanded her to listen to him pitying himself because his arents threw him out of the house.
Both cases certainly need help, but different ones. One needs a big kick in the ass and the other ones a less tough approach.
 

Agent Washington

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Do i think they deserve compassion? yes

Do I want to be the one to give compassion? Pay me and maybe

So:D
 

Amargith

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Neither.

It’s a symptom - a coping mechanism for a problem they dont know how to deal with any other way.

And yes, they deserve help and understanding as beating these types of things is a bitch and a hell of a lot of work - especially as our society actively hampers the headway you make on this shit, imho. Especiallly in the begining it can feel completely hopeless, making it that much easier to crawl back into the bottle.

That said, the person has to want to work on it - you cant help them before. And it is possible, like any good parent does, to be firm ( to avoid enabling) yet gentle ( to pull them out od their isolation as social relationships are a good start in being an alternative to booze ) with people who suffer from this problem.

Meanwhile, if you re not able to emotionally remove yourself from the situation and their drinking hampers your welbeing, please don't feel guilty if you leave it to others.
 
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SolitaryWalker

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Alcoholism is best thought of as a disease because it affects physical and mental wellness similarly to how most well-documented medical maladies do.

However, weakness of character may increase one's chances of succumbing to this illness.
 

Red Memories

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I have issues with calling alcoholism a disease. Substance abuse is not a disease. As someone above stated, it actually often ends up being more of a SYMPTOM of something else rather than a disease of its own. But in essence, doing something like this is a CHOICE...So to me, alcoholism is more of a choice. Now whether you are in the rational mindset to decide about that choice fully varies from person to person. I do also think addictive personalities come into play (which is why I am not ever going to drink alcohol. Alcoholism runs in my family, I have an addictive personality, and I have anxiety with depression so it is an all around bad idea considering I had former self-harm issues which is an addiction of its own.) But in essence to call it a disease to me insults people with a real disease. They didn't choose to have a disease, or they cannot easily cure theirs. Addiction is not a disease. To become addicted to something you made the choice to partake, and whether you like it or not you have to take responsibility for your choices.
 

SolitaryWalker

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. Addiction is not a disease. To become addicted to something you made the choice to partake, and whether you like it or not you have to take responsibility for your choices.

If you have a chemical imbalance that compels you to engage in substance abuse, how are you different from those whose cognitive constitution compels them to be depressed, obsessive-compulsive or schizophrenic?

The only difference I see is in the outward dysfunctionalities displayed in each case. Yet, the underlying pattern is the same: the individual suffers from a chemical imbalance in the brain in a way that promotes disorderly behavior.
 

Red Memories

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If you have a chemical imbalance that compels you to engage in substance abuse, how are you different from those whose cognitive constitution compels them to be depressed, obsessive-compulsive or schizophrenic?

The only difference I see is in the outward dysfunctionalities displayed in each case. Yet, the underlying pattern is the same: the individual suffers from a chemical imbalance in the brain in a way that promotes disorderly behavior.

"Substance abuse is not a disease. As someone above stated, it actually often ends up being more of a SYMPTOM of something else rather than a disease of its own."

"Now whether you are in the rational mindset to decide about that choice fully varies from person to person."

If you have a chemical imbalance you do not just have a "substance abuse problem", you have a mental illness of sorts. Whether it be depression, anxiety, etc which is warping your thinking or ability to make a rational choice so you choose a reckless irrational coping mechanism.

Therefore it is a choice or a symptom.
 

SolitaryWalker

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If you have a chemical imbalance you do not just have a "substance abuse problem", you have a mental illness of sorts. .

Why are you equivocating on the word "disease".

Here, you've noted that a substance abuse problem is an illness, which is a synonym of disease.
 

Red Memories

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Why are you equivocating on the word "disease".

Here, you've noted that a substance abuse problem is an illness, which is a synonym of disease.

You are misreading my statement. I said you do not just have a substance abuse problem, you have a mental illness. if substance abuse is a symptom, it is not the illness itself but a sign of the illness. A majority of mental illnesses have substance abuse as a SYMPTOM.
 

Smilephantomhive

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I do think people have a little more control over mental disorders than physical disease. Doesn't mean it isn't difficult to fix, but a mental disorder is different than a physical disease imo.
 

PumpkinMayCare

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If you have a chemical imbalance that compels you to engage in substance abuse, how are you different from those whose cognitive constitution compels them to be depressed, obsessive-compulsive or schizophrenic?

The only difference I see is in the outward dysfunctionalities displayed in each case. Yet, the underlying pattern is the same: the individual suffers from a chemical imbalance in the brain in a way that promotes disorderly behavior.

The reasons for engaging in substance abuse are various. But IF it's because of an addictive personality and they become an alcoholic, there must have been a choice made at some point to open a bottle and drink the alcohol. Well... actually they must have made the decision to do that more than once. Vs someone with depression for example, who can't decide whether or not they'll feel depressed, that happens on its own. Big difference.
In reality not every alcoholic has to have an addictive personality though. The cases of alcoholism being a bad coping mechanism for other mental issues (depression for eg) are quite high.
Go figure.
 

Redbone

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Neither.

It’s a symptom - a coping mechanism for a problem they dont know how to deal with any other way.

And yes, they deserve help and understanding as beating these types of things is a bitch and a hell of a lot of work - especially as our society actively hampers the headway you make on this shit, imho. Especiallly in the begining it can feel completely hopeless, making it that much easier to crawl back into the bottle.

That said, the person has to want to work on it - you cant help them before. And it is possible, like any good parent does, to be firm ( to avoid enabling) yet gentle ( to pull them out od their isolation as social relationships are a good start in being an alternative to booze ) with people who suffer from this problem.

That said, if you re not able to emotionally remove yourself from the situation and thwir drinking hampere your welbeing, leave it to others.

I'm so glad you wrote this, Amargith. It's perfect.

My mother and my sister were both addicts. One to alcohol and the other to crack cocaine. My sister said she quit when it cost her more than she was willing to pay for the benefits. She realized that there were other ways she could cope but up until that time, she simply didn't want to. She said it was selfishness (meaning what she had done to others and didn't care)and she needed to grow up. To lose this feeling that she was entitled to whatever she wanted because of her suffering and emotional needs.

I had a cousin that went through the same thing. What amazed me is that both of them quit when they wanted to. They both finally put what they had learned in rehab to use. The cousin went on to get a master's degree and runs a program for addicts. My sister is a religious fanatic now though (exchanging one addiction for another?). My mother's alcoholism killed her.

I can understand the lure. I truly can. It is and is not about weakness. I've had and continue to have, a very difficult life. It's very tempting to see alcohol and drugs as my "one only pleasure" or "something nice that I deserve". It would be easy to give myself a pass and when questioned say that if others had been through what I had, they'd be doing it too (knowing that this isn't true).

Those thoughts are always prodding at me...why not, why not, why not...but I don't really want that. What I really want is to put my own demons to rest because that's a big part of what makes everyday life difficult...this background noise of damage. I just wish it weren't so painful and took so long. I'm impatient to 'feel better' so the temptation of a chemical fix for that is a very powerful one.
 

miss fortune

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I do think people have a little more control over mental disorders than physical disease. Doesn't mean it isn't difficult to fix, but a mental disorder is different than a physical disease imo.

As someone with first hand experience with both alcoholism and mental illness I absolutely cannot agree with your post... you have no idea how hard I've tried to control my mind when manic or depressed and I can't succeed... even on meds I can't completely control it...i know people with physical illnesses who have better luck controlling things than a lot of us have with mental illnesses.

That said, alcoholism sneaks up on you... you rarely notice that you're becoming one until it's too late and it's out of your control by that point. It doesn't seem fair that some people can drink with abandon and not end up addicted while I avoid taking a single drink because my brain glitches in a way that seems to make it think it needs alcohol.
 

Lexicon

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It’s easily overlooked that mental illness typically has a neurological basis on some level. The bio within bio/psycho/social factors that influence mental illness. It is complicated by the fact that we don’t fully understand how the human brain operates, yet. It is indeed physical. This can include a genetic predisposition for addictive behavior, low impulse control, etc.

Doesn’t mean people shouldn’t hold themselves accountable for their poor choices, whatever the reason, but it should be acknowledged that doing something about it may be difficult if not impossible, for some. Some choices are made without us even realizing it.

Rather than compete in the Illness Olympics, perhaps we should focus more on trying to be supportive, & contribute to helping people in pain find a way of living with it, managing it, however we can. It’s true, some people don’t want help, aren’t ready. That it’s draining. No one’s forcing you to help, but aside from the gratification of feeling correct, what is there to gain by invalidating something so complicated in the human experience that you may not begin to be able to truly understand?
 

Smilephantomhive

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As someone with first hand experience with both alcoholism and mental illness I absolutely cannot agree with your post... you have no idea how hard I've tried to control my mind when manic or depressed and I can't succeed... even on meds I can't completely control it...i know people with physical illnesses who have better luck controlling things than a lot of us have with mental illnesses.

That said, alcoholism sneaks up on you... you rarely notice that you're becoming one until it's too late and it's out of your control by that point. It doesn't seem fair that some people can drink with abandon and not end up addicted while I avoid taking a single drink because my brain glitches in a way that seems to make it think it needs alcohol.

Well maybe it depends in the disorder since I know that some mental problems are definitely controllable.

I still think addicts should get help and not be seen as the scum of the earth, so I hope I didn't give off that vibe. I do think some of this can be controlled, but maybe some people will need therapy. In my mind even if someone does make a mistake that they could've not made, they still deserve help.
 

hjgbujhghg

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I'd like to say it's a disease, but being an addictive personality myself...I think it's a weakness.
 
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