Let’s not consider diabetes, an actual disease. Not the same as alcoholism. It’s an actual illness whether people manage it or not. You have not yet established alcoholism as a disease. The analogy fails.
The choice is also managing one’s alcohol intake. Some people do and some people don’t. Remember we are not arguing that addiction is not real. People can become addicted and suffer real withdrawal from many substances. (Addiction is also different than compulsion. Compulsive disorders are real. We are specifically discussing the ‘disease’ nature of alcoholism.
The current edition, DSM-5, classifies alcoholism, now referred to as Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) or Substance Use Disorder (SUD), as a mental disorder presenting both physical and mental symptoms.
Not a disease.
Labeling alcoholism as a disease was a move by the medical industry, of which you claim to be a part, to treat people in a way that insurance companies, hospitals, and treatment facilities could benefit from the treatment. (Treatment? There is none.) There is no successful model of alcoholic treatment. None.
The moral failing model is as old as the Flintstones: You are the one bringing this up not me. It is a religious argument perpetuated by ancient religious America and the AA model of recovery and its step model.
STEP ONE: Admit that I am powerless over my alcoholism.
STEP TWO: I believe that a power greater than myself could restore my sanity. (Not cure me of my disease.)
STEP THREE: Made a decision to my will (my moral failings) over to a God. As I understand him.
STEP FOUR: (Why did I slip ‘moral’ into step three? Because of step 4.) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself.
It gets worse…
STEP FIVE: Admitted our moral shortcomings “The exact nature of our wrongs.”
STEP SIX: I let God remove all my moral deficits and shortcomings.
This is what you are attempting to debunk with your comments on 'morality." Why in the hell would I go there? You are attributing shit to me that I have not said and I do not believe in. Please stop. That is polite as I am going to get should you continue.
So you have been sober for 18 years and are not going to rely on personal testimony I hope. You think you have a disease and so it’s true and everyone else should think the same? Is that how the argument goes? You have still not established Alcoholism as a disease. Even worse: even if alcoholism was a disease, the disease model does nothing to treat it. There is no successful treatment for alcoholism. There are people who make the choice to quit drinking.
Really? Now we are going to cancer? Another fallacious comparison. People get cancer and it is real. AIDS? Quadriplegics, people with burns and amputations? Are you even remotely serious? None of this has anything to do with Alcoholism unless, of course, you are citing it as an underlying mental or physical condition that manifests in alcoholic behavior.
What would it look like if you had simply said: "I have to manage my behavior by simply abstaining from alcohol. When I drink alcohol, I tend to drink too much.
I really question the comment
That is a weird comment. I am tempted to throw away my life and spend all my time drinking? How is one “Tempted to relapse?” I’m suggesting that “relapse” is not the temptation. You have been there and done that. What do you think the temptation is? Have you explored this? Alcohol is not the temptation.
There are a lifetime of good memories, good feelings, and positive associations, paired with drinking behavior. Outside of being addicted and needing a drink to alleviate flu-like symptoms of withdrawal, there is a hell of a lot more going on than just the “temptation of relapse.” I would suggest that there is no temptation to relapse. Fear of ‘relapse’ is what prevents your drinking behavior. You don’t want to be that person again. And so… you choose not to drink. Bravo for you. You are a rare person who can learn from mistakes and not repeat them.