Day2's Blog

Alcoholism is a disease not a choice. Drugs are a choice.

If you're going to put alcoholism as a disease, then drugs are too. Both are addictions. You make a CHOICE to take your first drink even though others in your family are alcoholics. But even if no one else in your family is an alcoholic, no one holds a gun to your head to start drinking. It's just as much of a choice as drugs are. It all about your addictive personality and how strong you are at controlling it. And when it comes to quitting YOU have to decide to quit. No program can help you until you decide to help yourself.
Day2, you do bring up a good point. Drug addicts aren't tempted at every eating establishment, (like an alcoholic might be) though they might be tempted by every pharmaceutical company while watching TV at almost every commercial break. lol.

I don't think either are a disease. Addictions - still a lot not known. Is is personality, choice, gene's?

Maybe it's a little like lying, which some seem to be an 'addicted' to, but something they can stop, if they chose to. In the end, it all goes to personal responsibility and no one's 'fault' but their own.

I have no idea how AA works, but whatever works, as long as it's legal and moral, is it not a good thing? Hope you find the answer you're interested in.

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Alcoholism is a disease and yes Bella it is passed down through the genes. Unlike those who choose to use drugs.

I know people that have told me that the new TV series "Breaking Bad" is one they can't watch. Seeing scenes of people smoking meth is to much of a trigger.

One must decide that they have had enough of alcohol or drugs before they can stop. If they are truly an alcoholic drinker or serious drug abuser, by the time they make that decision, their life, and the lives of those that love them, are generally hell.

We care for our loved ones that have the problem, but don't usually know how to help. We enable them instead. We make excuses for their behavior in an effort to deny the reality of just how out of control all of their lives have become.

When a person really reaches that place that they cannot face themselves in the mirror anymore, then a 12 step group can be a life saving place to be.

It is not that people sit around talking about alcohol.

It is being around other people who know exactly what you are going through. Others whose lives have been in the gutter; whose families have left them; who have lost job after job; who have been in jail; who have wrecked cars; and who have battled to get their lives back on track.

Go to a twelve step meeting and you will find people who have been clean for a day, and people who have been clean for 20 years. It is all about support and help.

Just my opinion any way for what it is worth.

Addiction is rooted deep in our biological makeup. I don't think addiction in and of itself is a choice BUT the form of the addiction played out in our lives becomes chosen: Some choose food, gambling, drugs, prescriptions, alcohol and even, yes, sex.

Seems society offers resources and help for the "socially accepted" addictions while calling every other form a crime and simple lack of will power.

If you are addicted to food, you can find a medicine to help curb your appetitie (your addiction)...you can have surgery to shrink your stomach, you can join a weight watchers group. All these seem acceptable. Addicted to drugs? Be prepared to hide from the law, and your doctor surely isn't going to prescribe you a medication to help curb anything.

As a food addict, show up at your favorite food establishment, walk up, place your order, and then an undercover officer puts you in cuffs. I know this sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I used this to get my point across. I just don't get it. I just don't get it. I don't have the answers. Will we as a society ever agree that we need to offer help (medical, spiritual, and the likes) to help the "non-socially" accepted addictions? In my mind, I not only hope for it, I PRAY for it.

The problem is that people with NO addictions are quick to judge. They think "oh they could do something about it". ALL forms of addiction should have help no matter what the addiction. Its like in previous comments that drugs is a choice whereas alcohol is more accepted. People think badly about drug addicts thinking "well they put themselves in that situation".

It is clear that rules need to change with the changing times. A lot of the drug addicts did not have parents that gave a hoot while others are from loving families. Hence the "addiction" gene. And alcohol is so widely abused because alot of the parents drink moderately and they think if their child has a drink it is not anything major. I'd rather my child have a drink at home than somewhere else is widely used. Again you have to lead by example.

People judge against the non-socially accepted addictions because they blame the addict and think they should know better. The schools are regulating menus now because of the number of obsese kids. The fast food places as well as other supermarket foods are getting rid of transfat. There are no plans in place for the "non-socially" accepted addictions. The public has to change their opionions first.

I think alot more people would get help.

I think you did the right thing. If he is forced to go to AA then maybe it will force him to see how much he needs help and maybe he will stay on the program. Each individual is different. You did him a big favor though cause jail time or monetary fines would not have helped him at all. Who knows maybe this is a step in the right direction and could be a life saving thing for him. One could only hope.

The success rate through AA is actually lower than the rate for those who quit on their own. Fewer than 10% of drunks quit through AA in their lifetime.

AA is man's wisdom melded with eastern mysticism, loose Christian principles and other religious notions.

If you ever want a good read on how AA came to be formed, you'd have to read Bob's personal story - not the one in the Big Book of AA, but rather his book. He actually delved in divination to get the steps, and these are his own words, not mine.

No, what I am saying is that God wouldn't allow someone to go to hell for being "diseased", as in drinking or drugs and addiction. Therefore, what is commonly called drug and alcohol addiction, and a disease model, flies in the face of what God calls it in the Bible: drunkenness and sin. The disease model is new - circa this century.