My dad is a piece of crap alcoholic. The alcoholics anonymous “Big Book” compares alcoholism to an allergy and an illness. Am I the only one who is saying “huh?!” You have to DRINK in order to become an alcoholic, whereas contracting most forms of illness, (with the exception of STD’s, lung cancer induced from smoking, etc.) are contracted through no fault of the person stricken with the illness. My dad didn’t have to start drinking, he chose to.
there are many people who drink alcohol, and a small percent are actually alcoholics. if your dad never drank, you’re right, he couldn’t be an alcholic. it seems that some people are more genetically predisposed to becoming addicted to alcohol (think about that for your future). it becomes an issue when someone actually becomes dependent on alcohol, meaning that they have withdrawal symptoms when they go without alcohol. the best thing you can be is supportive, especially if he’s trying to stop. that can be very hard to do. good luck.
please encourage him to seek help. Find an organization in your town that offers help similar to this
http://maryaliceshouse.org/
It has been proven that people who are alcoholics have a different brain makeup than those who are not. Alcoholism is a progressive condition that tends to worsen over time. Alcoholics have a pervasive obsession/desire to drink. It is a disease of the mind. They can’t just turn off the desire to drink, but they can choose not to. Once an alcoholic starts drinking, the ability to stop at a reasonable amount is nearly impossible because their body processes alcohol in a biologically different manner. They don’t really have an allergy – that’s just an analogy. Take care.
My sister is an alcoholic. When I finally got her in to have a shunt put in her liver, she was close to dying. After the shunt, she would stop drinking alcohol for periods of time….. she would drink water instead. The amounts of water increased until she was getting “drunk” from an electrolyte imbalance. She could have very well killed herself that way too.
After many years of fighting the mental urge to drink…going on and off the “wagon”, in and out of rehab facilities…. I do believe that she does not drink any more. (one can never be sure of what another does or does not do).
You’re right, your father chose to drink. He did not choose to become addicted to the drug tho. You should keep this in mind when looking at your own future for genetic dispositions and mental tendencies for addictions….be it smoking, drinking, gambling…..
Alcoholism is the only “disease” that required the AMA to vote on it to become a disease.
Marty Mann, often (incorrectly) called “the first woman in AA”, started the National Council on Alcoholism (now the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence or NCADD). She petitioned the AMA to declare it a disease to fit in with the AA mythology. The doctors approved it, mainly so that they could bill insurance companies for their work with drunks. That’s the real reason, economics.
BTW- Bill Wilson called it a malady or illness in the Big Book, never a disease. He went on record, saying it was NOT a disease when asked in 1960, “We have
never called alcoholism a disease because, technically speaking, it
is not a disease entity. For example, there is no such thing as heart
disease. Instead, there are many separate heart ailments, or
combinations of them. It is something like that with alcoholism.
Therefore, we did not wish to get in wrong with the medical
profession by pronouncing alcoholism a disease entity. Therefore, we always called it an illness, or a malady – a far safer term for us to use.”