The Debate on Whether Alcoholism is a Disease or Not

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The Debate on Whether Alcoholism is a Disease or Not

Many specialists today are in a debate on whether alcoholism is a disease or not. I looked up the word disease in the new American Webster dictionary. It stated that a disease is a condition ill health, or malady. Malady is defined as any disordered state or condition. Alcoholism causes illness and disorder.

Someone who is an alcoholic has a dependency on the drug alcohol. If you are dependent on alcohol, you can acquire many illnesses both physical and mental. Physical illness from alcoholism can include stomach problems, digestive problems, headaches, kidney problems, liver disease, problems with nervous system and trouble with immune system, just to name a few. Mental illness can include depression, anger, irritability, lack of concentration, and low self-esteem.

Some alcoholics believe that in order to have a good time doing something they have to be under the influence of alcohol. Therefor if they do not have alcohol then they think life sucks and is no fun. This can also limit what a person can do because you may not be able to do some things under the influence of alcohol with out getting a punishment. For instance if you wanted to go somewhere in a car and you're an alcoholic then you will be breaking the law if you are drunk driving. Some people do not know why they have to drink in order to have fun. Maybe its because their friends drink and they do not have friends who do not drink. You can ask people, why do you drink. Many answers can come from this question. Because I like to drink, because it makes me feel good and sometimes it's, I do not know.

So, let us look at the reason for alcoholism. Alcoholism usually comes from years of the use of alcohol but you can become an alcoholic at a young age. You may not be physically dependent at a young age but you can definitely become mentally dependent. Many specialists say that alcoholism is hereditary. In alcoholics anonymous, it is said that if you have an inherited alcoholic gene then you are at high risk of being an alcoholic. One sign that you might have this gene is if you have a black out while over consuming alcohol. It is said that if you black out then you are an alcoholic. A black out is a period while drinking that you can vaguely remember or not recall whatsoever. I do not believe this because there can be...

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...it can definitely be defined as a disease. It is a disease that is brought on by influences of society, family and pressure. In my mind, alcoholism is a man made disease. Of course man tries to fix it but I think alcoholism is unstoppable. It may be stopped in one case but it just keeps coming. As one alcoholic recovers, there is ten new alcoholics being born. Not in the sense of a newborn baby, but in the sense as a person being defined as an alcoholic. There will always be alcoholism as long as there is alcohol. I think if society would focus more on alcohol as being negative, it would help stop some cases of alcoholism. I think any beer company sponsoring a sport event is ridiculous. This type of advertisement should be banned. I think this would make alcohol less acceptable by the public. I really do not understand why America accepts alcohol and not one other drug. I think alcohol is the number one gateway drug out there. People do things when they are drunk that they would not regularly do sober. Someone may try doing and illegal drugs because they are drunk. So, in order to stop this disease we need to kill it at its roots and that would mean get rid of alcohol altogether.

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