I’ve always been skeptical of the disease model of addiction, and the treatment industry that flows from that theory. Disagreements of a fundamental nature in the scientific community on a host of issues are remarkably common, contrary to what the mainstream media would like you to think.
Smith was steadfast in her belief that her actions were volitional from the start. Her drug use and crimes were not the products of an immoral character or a faulty brain incapable of change, but rather of an environment where heroin was accessible and desirable. This outlook determined her experiences in prison and beyond, ultimately leading her to dedicate her life to challenging predominant medical models of addiction with her research. Today, she is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
“It’s not my fault. I have a disease, why should I try to change? It’s not me, it’s the disease. I have a good excuse to do nothing. My disease makes anything I do to improve just pointless anyway so why should I even try?”
100% … Dennis, Dennis, Dennis … look around. Nothing is anyone’s fault. We are ALL victims of something.
Even crazed Neegrow throat slashers have Go Fund Me accounts set up for them … because they had a disadvantaged youth or something.
Which BTW … I read that Go Fund Me has removed the account because they have a policy of “not creating accounts for people charged with violent crimes”. So what has become of the Go Fund Me $1M account set up for Karmelo Anthony who stabbed a high school kid in the heart?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14753847/Karmelo-Anthony-online-donations-teen-killer-received-Frisco-Texas-stabbing-Austin-Metcalf.html
Well … they … finally … reluctantly… took it down … after the family had pocketed nearly $1M. I would never donate a thin dime to anyone or any cause on Go Fund Me. Ever.
Wow? What is it with me and names? What? Am I having a series of mini-strokes? Guess I had just read a post by ‘Dennis’ … then failed to shift gears to Stan. Stan, I’m sorry I had a transient ischemic attack while posting this … gotta back off the coffee!
Oh it’s a disease alright.
The disease is called IRRESPONSIBILITY.
ha ha ha !!! its all this PEER PRESSURE to take the toke/tab/jab/whatever.
l got nooz for yas. having a face like a mule gets one excluded from da group[think] BIG TIME. l was never *welcomed* to the elite realms.
thus avoided such things as a lifetime herpes infection or a much shortened lifetime courtesy all them white crystally thing going around.
nya nya nya!!! or is that bray bray bray heeehaaaaw heeehaaaaww !!!!
As someone who wasted ten years in a bottle, and have been sober for 12 years thanks to AA, I have a different approach to this issue. The Step 1 chapter in the 12&12 says explicitly that we have ‘developed an allergy’, which I don’t consider a ‘disease’. It’s more that we have drunk so much for so long that our body chemistry has adapted to this massive daily dose of depressant. I want to emphasize: this is SELF-INFLICTED. Only by our massive drinking had we changed our chemistry; the people who have a couple of drinks on the weekend do not. Without alcohol to counteract them, our baseline chemistry has us pumped full of stimulants that would make a normal person seem crazy. That is one reason why really heavy drinkers are NOT encouraged to go ‘cold turkey’; to do so invites hallucinations, convulsions, and even fatal seizures. It’s also a reason why heavy drinkers will keep drinking, even while very drunk, until they pass out; as soon as any of the booze wears off, you begin to feel uncomfortable.
The result is it’s extremely difficult to overcome the cravings in the first year, which is when most people at AA fail. It takes more than a few months for your body chemistry to re-adjust to life without the daily dose, which is why that first year is characterized by mood swings from elation to depression, as your body tries to find a new chemical equilibrium. After that, it becomes progressively easier.
I wrote an essay called “The Myth of Sisyphus” for the AA blog. Sisyphus, you might recall, was the Greek king/gadfly sentenced to roll a massive boulder up a hill each day, only to see it roll back down each night. I noted that was what it felt like to be newly sober. Each day was a struggle to get to the finish line without drinking; I thought about it all the time. When I managed a few hours of fitful sleep, it was always with the knowledge that another day of torment awaited me. And more than one AA member has lost his way because he couldn’t face the spectre of that rock and that hill.
But a funny thing happens. If you stay sober long enough, the rock begins to get lighter. The hill becomes smaller and less steep. One day, you notice you spent the whole day before without thinking about booze. The rock has become a pebble and the hill a gentle road. Today, I kick that pebble down the road every day without a thought. But that’s the physical part of the story.
The heart of AA is steps 4-9, which are briefly, make a list of your perceived shortcomings, share that list with someone you trust, decide what changes you need to rectify the list, get to work on those changes, make a list of people you’ve hurt, and get to work making amends to those people. Lather, rinse, repeat. As you work the program, and discuss these steps with others, you begin to understand yourself better, and see how to improve yourself in your daily life. It is an iterative process, and as you eliminate what you think are your major problems, many find that other, deeper issues that are more important will come to the surface and need to be dealt with.
I know I’m not the only person here who’s not perfect. What is amazing about the program is that Steps 4-9 don’t mention alcohol at all. As an old-timer used to declaim at the end of every meeting, “AA is a program about living a good life, and everyone should have their own version of it.” I understand his sentiment. As an engineer, I look at Steps 4-7 as “analyze the problem, check your results with a colleague, make a plan, and implement it”. Seems logical, no? And 8-9 are about cleaning up your past messes and trying to clean the slate. Once you feel that you made amends to all those you hurt, and you feel what it’s like to live with a clean conscience, you really don’t want to go back to the lying, cheating ways. But there’s also a logic to it.
In the 80s, when Japanese manufacturers were eating the West’s lunch, US makers would visit Japanese factories and remark on how clean the production floors were, and how spotless the machines, unlike US factories, where floors and machines were oil-stained and dirty. The Japanese attitude was ‘if a machine is leaking even a little oil, it should be fixed’, whereas the Western ethos was ‘don’t stop the line’. To me, this is the business equivalent to having a clean conscience. If you don’t have oil leaking from your machines, you don’t expect them to malfunction. If you have made amends to everyone, and aren’t hurting anyone any more, then you don’t need to hide away in shame and fear.
You’ll note I haven’t talked about God. As a Taoist, I don’t believe in any supernatural beings who care personally about us, and I certainly don’t believe the bits in AA about how I need to submit to God’s plan for me. But, as someone wiser than I once said “Take what you need, and leave the rest”. I use my group as my higher power, and it works fine for me.
So I don’t think AA teaches alcohol is a disease. It is a “condition” that we put ourselves into with our protracted drinking, and while we can reverse that body chemistry back to normal, we are now susceptible to falling back into addiction if we think we are ‘cured’. That’s why I keep going back, even after 12 years.