Alcoholism: disease or choice?

Specialties Addictions

Published

What is your opinion; is alcoholism a disease or a choice? Please provide your rationale or empirical support of your belief.

Specializes in Med-Surg/ Tele/ DOU.

100% it's a disease and I'm a survivor. Alcohol wasn't my choice of drug, but instead I was a Meth addict for 5 years. I was lucky that my parents at the time had good insurance and was able to send me to an excellent rehab.

The only way I could describe addiction is that it's your own little personal hell, trapped by compulsion and the absolute need to get high. As most know, an addict doesn't become an addict on his own. Not only are there physiologic components to addiction but psychosocial ones to. Case in point, the biggest breakthrough I had in rehab was when my father broke down and we where able to heal our relationship.

Specializes in LTC.

Addiction is something that just happens, due to circumstance and predisposition. Why would anyone CHOOSE to live like an addict? I have a friend with an addiction, and he's miserable. It's turned his life upside down. Even before his addiction came to the surface, he had a compulsive personality and a hard time coping with stress. When he took that first pill, I don't think he was planning on any of this! He chose to take the drug but he didn't choose to become addicted. His addict behavior is so frustrating though- lying, sneaking around, etc. It's hard to deal with, especially because he has a wife that never asked for any of this and is going through hell. He wasn't like this before. Taking that first pill was certainly a stupid mistake (especially knowing that a lot of people around here have a serious problem as a result of oxy- DUH!), but everything else he's done was a result of his addiction and if for some reason he hadn't become dependent (and not *everyone* does), he would not have done those things.

Specializes in med/surg.
good point....the damage done by the poisoning effects of alcohol is very real and fatal. but, as you point out, it's because of a behavior that can be changed. in the same vein, most lung and throat cancers are a disease that is brought on by the behavior of smoking...:smokin:

here's my take on it, and i will use your post to illustrate. the actual use of alcohol or drugs, smoking, compulsive gambling, sex addiction, obsessive tendencies, hoarding, or whatever, is the behavior caused by the disease of addiction. someone can choose to change their behavior of drinking alcohol, but because of their addictive illness, they are likely to replace it with another kind of behavior that may be just as destructive if they are not very careful. i do believe addiction is a disease of mental illness, unfortunately the behaviors caused by the disease can lead to fatal physical illness (not to mention social and personal problems, financial collapse, etc.)

Specializes in Adult/Ped Emergency and Trauma.

It's a disease.

No one choose to live like that.

The sad thing is the fact someone has to ask that question in 2012 shows how little education is out there on addiction.

That's really sad.

Thats cost a many lives.

. . . . .and caused many deaths as well!!!!!!

Specializes in Cardiac, Pcu, Tele and Tbi.

there is no way alcoholism is a disease , your sugarcoating there behavior by calling it a disease . your giving them an oppurtunity to continue doing what they want by taking the blame off of them . i had way to many people in my life be alcoholics and when i finally said no more to them, and there will be consequences to your selfish drinking issues is when i finally got change . i was able to take a deep breath and relax . my certain family members still get drunk and cause fights they just know not to do it around me because i wont let them get away with it . i will hold you responsible for being an idiot. drunk or sober

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

You certainly have every right to choose who you associate with, but alcoholism is a disease. My dad died as a sick, yellow person who started drinking a year out of portacaval shunt surgery. So you figure he just decided one day that would be a fun way to die?

If you expect a reply from the other posters in the thread you should probably send them a message, since months have passed since the last comment.

Specializes in Med-Surg/ Tele/ DOU.
there is no way alcoholism is a disease , your sugarcoating there behavior by calling it a disease . your giving them an oppurtunity to continue doing what they want by taking the blame off of them . i had way to many people in my life be alcoholics and when i finally said no more to them, and there will be consequences to your selfish drinking issues is when i finally got change . i was able to take a deep breath and relax . my certain family members still get drunk and cause fights they just know not to do it around me because i wont let them get away with it . i will hold you responsible for being an idiot. drunk or sober[/quote

Interesting perspective, looks like you have experience with relatives that have alcohol issues. This doesn't mean you are the preeminent expert on alcoholism, but I can see that you have some deep scars from being hurt by alcoholics behavior.

The world doesn't revolve around you... It's about the alcoholic or addict, but also the alcoholic or addict can't be forced to become sober, but truly needs to be ready. This normally happens from hitting rock bottom, and going to rehab then AA/NA. Though some never find sobriety and they die from other diseases associated with Alcoholism.

I have my BSN, but also am a recovering addict. I found sobriety in 1999. From first hand experience, when in the depths of drug and alcohol addiction is nothing you really choose. It's flat out horrible and I wouldn't inflict this on my worse enemy.

To the contrary of "taking the blame off of them", it's actually healing to come to the revelation that addiction and alcoholism is a disease. Before that fact, I would keep beating myself up, and asking why am I like this and thus perpetuating my behavior. When an addict comes to grips that it's a disease and gets the right holistic treatment, both spiritual and physical, that's when they have the tools to get healthy.

For example, a patient is diagnosed with diabetes. This can be from per-disposition (hereditary) or life-style, but most likely a combination of both. That person is told they have a chronic disease and needs to change their lifestyle or needs to start taking medication. This is very similar to an alcoholic or addict; where studies have shown that there is a genetic/ predisposition to it. You only have to look at your own family to see this. There is also life-style choices that goes on, but that doesn't detract that it is also a disease. Get it? An addict needs to make those life-style changes, but along with medication treatment, most need a spiritual based program like AA/NA to find recovery. I for one had to leave the small town I grew up, and most of my friends behind.

Specializes in Med-Surg/ Tele/ DOU.

I recommend you attending Al-Anon. It's a support group for family and friends of alcoholics and addicts. Might be enlightening and helpful

Alcoholism is disease . . . that comes with a lot of choices.

The magnetic attraction that compels certain people to crave alcohol, no matter how much damage it's doing to their bodies and their lives, is not something they decided to acquire. Most of them would gladly agree to have that fierce and ferocious appetite removed. This is the part we call a disease. Some folks find it easier to think of it as a condition. Like it or not, it's a very large part of who they are.

But the story doesn't end there.

Those who have that condition face many choices every day. And yet, the dozens of choices they face boil down to a single, solitary decision--will I or won't I drink?

Being married is another condition. Unlike alcoholism, you do have a say about whether you enter into that condition, but once you take those vows, you're married. And yet, acting married and staying married involve a lot of choices along the way. Will a man invite an attractive female colleague out for a drink alone because the thought of it gives him a thrill? Will a woman engage in an intense online friendship with a man and tell him things she used to reserve for her husband? Flirtation fills the airwaves. Opportunities come knocking. The choices we make determine the lives we lead.

Being married and staying sober both require saying no to temptation and replacing old (single or alcoholic) behaviors with new ones. They may mean making new friends and letting go of relationships that pull in the wrong direction. During rocky times, it can mean staying true to the new goals one day--or even one moment--at a time.

They are both a once-and-for-all decision that require that vow to be honored over and over again.

Setting limits for people whose lives are out of control can be a good and healthy thing. The impact is even stronger when it's done with kindness and without condemnation for the person. But the drinkers still have their own choices to make, and they may never decide to stop drinking. That's sad, but it comes back to the reality that they are compelled to drink until and unless they want sobriety more.

Alcoholism is a disease/condition. Sobriety is a choice.

I still think drinking and doing drugs is a personal choice. IMO calling it a disease is just another way to put them blame elsewhere instead of taking responsibility for one's actions. Seems like alot of so-called diseases these days are like that. Just a scapegoat for people.

see, to me, it is sort of the opposite. There is treatment, IF you refuse the treatment, ......

instead of "it just is the way i am, i can't change.....

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I still think drinking and doing drugs is a personal choice. IMO calling it a disease is just another way to put them blame elsewhere instead of taking responsibility for one's actions. Seems like alot of so-called diseases these days are like that. Just a scapegoat for people.

Do you choose to disagree with healthcare authorities over all diseases or just this one?

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