Alcoholism & Alcoholics Anonymous: Willpower or Disease?

64 thoughts on “Alcoholism & Alcoholics Anonymous: Willpower or Disease?”

1. People have been shown to have genetic dispositions to be more likely to drink, and to form substance reliant habits. In such a regard, any type of habitual consumption or addictive substances can be thought of as a disease. It is something the individual has little control over and may not recognize until too late.

   In alcoholic homes, people can also be trained to see substances as a means for relaxation, peace, calming, and happiness. This type of positive feedback essentially raises individuals who are substance dependent. This could be considered and classified as a mental illness.

   I don’t know that I would just throw out the entire book on groups like AA, although I do believe that they are hugely unsuccessful (as we have personally witnessed). Support groups can be very helpful in breaking harmful habits or addictions or providing the necessary infrastructure to do so.

   Now, that being said, I drink, although I am the child of an alcoholic, because I do not believe it is a disease that can be passed from generation to generation. I occasionally drink to relax, occasionally drink for social gatherings, and on even rarer occasions, just for fun. I, however, will NEVER drink if I feel like it is the only pick me up out there. Better to be temporarily depressed and wake up feeling better a day or two later, than to start forming a habit where some substance is the answer to my problems.

   That’s a terrible disease to form.

2. Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult of Cowardice – I love this even though I am a member of the cult – no anger felt – everyone has the right to share.

3. You people make me giggle..

4. Obviously the author is no an alcoholic and he hasn´t read the OMS Satatement -303 (1953)- about alcoholism. It must be gourgeous to be God.

5. What is “OMS Satatement -303 (1953)”?

6. I have personally struggled with alcohol and have come close to death on a few occasions. The freedom I found and have enjoyed for many years now from my personal struggle was to be fully responsible for myself and my actions, whether they occurred when I was drunk or sober. AA is saturated with erroneous principles which are exceedingly trancended by basic, universal truths. I personally found AA to be an obstruction from my ability to be responsible and therefore, free. I suppose people can view this as a disease if they so choose since somewhere along the line it has been claimed as such. For me personally, whether science or the medical industry reports it as a disease or not simply does not matter. In my eyes, there is nothing useful, positive, and healing for doing so, yet plenty of negative, disempowering and irresponsible consequences for calling it a disease. Therefore for me, in my eyes, it is not a disease.

   Glad to see that it is being openly discussed. One thing I know for sure is that if one finds a sense of peace, comfort through AA then by all means go for it. However, until recently it has been aggressively and arrogantly claimed by people within the industry to be “the only way” and that is just pure non-sense. People who are so defensive about AA and somehow threatened by the idea that many people find solutions to their alcohol/drug struggles outside of AA, need to look more closely at the solitidy of their own “recovery”.

7. request permission to use http://www.joelx.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04... image in a academic student class presentation

8. Sure… but I am not the rights holder for these images I think.

9. I’ve done both, sobriety without AA(for 8 plus years) and sobriety with AA (1 year), I’m still sober and I prefer AA’s way. If its a cult then so shall be it, I’m happier then I’ve ever been in my life. You are allowed your opinion but I’d be careful with it because you never know who you could be harming with it, some poor person might be considering AA and see’s this and well you get my point. God Bless You.

10. I am breaking tradition 10 by discussing this in a forum.

    When the only opinion I represent is that of my own… I acknowledge the free will given by God over that of The censorship “suggested” by A.A.

    As a member, I am completely comfortable with the statements here.
    I have witnessed cult-like behaviors in some groups. I do not attend those groups. In any city, you may find a large amount of different groups with different formats. The group I attend does not “add rules”. Many of the suggestions made by “Program” people are nowhere to be found in the bigbook.

    I date whom I wish. I dress how I will and I speak with the full understanding of the privileges afforded me by something greater than mankind.

    For newcomers who read this:
    A.A. has worked for me. I did have to refrain from certain groups and individuals who added more to the program than was intended.

    And finally, Bill Wilson did die a drunk. That has no bearing on the program, nor does that mean he doesn’t deserve respect for making a human effort to aspire to a better way of life.

    A true A.A. groups accept all religions without opinion or bias. I have met many faiths in A.A. & was first sponsored by an atheist. Strangely enough he was quite spiritual. There is a difference between spirituality & religion.

    http://silkworth.net/aa/12traditions.html

11. What you have to say about AA is a bunch of crap! Clearly you are not fully educated about all the good it has done for so many since it began. And if you have a better way of helping people that do have a hard time helping themselves then go for it.

    Your opinions are stupid and worthless!!!!!!!!!!!

12. Your opinions on alcoholism make for interesting reading. I am a recovered alcoholic, I attend AA meetings and I am a Psychologist.

    Not everyone in AA believes in God. I know a good number of atheists in AA who are happy in their recovery.

    I do agree with you that Alcoholism is not a disease, it is a pathology. It is my view that this pathology can only be corrected when the alcoholic DOES take responsibility for his or her actions, most notably by stopping drinking.

    Therein lies the fundamental flaw in your argument – you have misunderstood Step 1. Step 1 asserts that the alcholic is powerless OVER ALCOHOL. The rest of the steps assert that the only way that the alcholic can stay sober is precisely by taking responsibility for ALL AREAS of his or her life.

    You are not alone in mis-interpreting Step 1, indeed there are a lot of people in AA who mis-interpret Step 1 – they have stopped drinking but in all other areas of their lives they are completely out of control.

    So, I invite you to return to Step 1, re-read it, seek a better understanding of it and then examine the rest of the steps, notably steps 4 through to 10 and then 12 and see that these urge the alcoholic to take responsibility.

    Best Regards,

    Mike.

13. I’m in my early twenties. I’m from Midwest and currently work in the north as a Physical Therapy tech for the military. My mom is a 13-year recovering alcoholic. I have been a part of AA on my own for the past year. Here are some of my thoughts:

    The author of this article wrote: “The founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson, even stated that alcoholism is more comparable to a MALADY than a disease.”

    From thefreedictionary.com, first four synonyms for malady: “illness, sickness, unwellness
    condition – an illness, disease, or other medical problem”

    HM. Malady and disease sound very similar. Good try though!

    This guy sounded like he went to a lot of work to prove AA is bad/erroneous/wrong or whatever else. Kinda reminds me of the guy who swears he’s over his ex but still spends so much energy hating her. Is he really over her? If he didn’t care anymore about her, he why spend all the energy on her? If the author here really believes AA is crap, why spend so much time and research on this? Personally I believe the author may have some underlying problems. But that’s not my business.
    I’d like to know also, what did he do for society by putting this out there? I wonder if this article helped anyone. I think AA is up to 2 million in recovery. Since 1935. That means millions more FAMILIES, FRIENDS, little kids, husbands, wives, sons and daughters are less affected by alcoholism and have HAPPIER lives. Not perfect, but better…

    I like this part too:
    …”people who refuse to take responsibility for their drinking”

    Steps 8-10 state:

    step 8…”became willing to make AMENDS to them all.”
    And then his smartass add: “Finally some responsibility taken.”
    You contradicted yourself there hot shot by saying we refuse to take responsibility.

    step 9….”Made direct amends”…
    We own up to what we’ve done.

    step 10…”Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” Wow now that just sounds so irresponsible doesn’t it?

    You know what this whole article is so full of mistakes…it’s just not worth it to keep typing about all of it. And I’d like to apologize for even going on and on like this. It hit a nerve and I wanted to write something. But like someone said before, I truly hope no one was considering trying AA and read this.

14. Sorry, after rereading my own comment, looks like I need some work!

    Thanks for your comment Mike.

15. I think somebody has a resentment…. Live and let live, brother. If you don’t like the fact that some people find their recovery in the rooms of AA, then don’t go to the rooms of AA. I am no shrink, but if you took the time to post such a large hate-post regarding AA & recovering alcoholics I would venture to say I would be glad to take you to a meeting, sounds like you could use one 🙂

16. “The rest of the steps assert that the only way that the alcholic can stay sober is precisely by taking responsibility for ALL AREAS of his or her life.”

    The rest of the steps flat-out state that the only way the alcoholic can do this is by forging a personal relationship with God and carrying this message to others.

    This is the reason I left A.A. I realized pretty quickly that it had nothing to do with not drinking. It’s a religion, not a “how to guide” on quitting drinking. I’m not knocking it, just identifying it for what it is.

    The only way the alcoholic can stay sober is to not drink alcohol. If forging a personal relationship with God helps you do so, more power to you. It is not, however, the only way to stop (and stay stopped). I’ve known plenty of God-fearing drunks and plenty of teetotaling atheists.

    Again, the only “problem” I have with A.A. is the tendency of its proponents to treat it as something other than what it actually is.

17. I don’t agree with everything written here, although I agree it is a choice. When we are in the throes of addiction, it makes the choice more difficult. I do agree, however, that AA is a cult religion. I’ve witnessed a great deal of harm that it has caused. I know from experience that you cannot have a rational discussion with those who have drank the AA kool-aid, any more than you can reason with a Scientologist – and in fine form, many AAs who posted here hit you some quality, ad hominem personal attacks. That is their MO.

    Nicely written and well thought out post.

18. Hey …………..interesting read – I am a 10 month happy sober AA member, after several attempts to stop AA seems to be a real source of hope for me.

    My approach is you take what you need and develop a program that works for each particpant. I do not have a sponsor that I interact with, have not done any steos, but try to live them as I understand them, I am now sober happy and not fearful of my next pending screw up – all in all – it was my team in AA that helped me get what I needed – serenity, courage and a little widsom.

    Be well JOHN

19. when I started reading the article, I did initially well up with anger, but it has since subsided.
    In the interest of providing some balance, for anyone who reads the article, which is indeed well written, I would like to clarify some issues/points.

    Most notably that AA has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with religion. It deals purely with spirituality. Spirituality is at the heart of every religion, but religion is not at the heart of spirituality. The fact that the word God is mentioned does not mean that it pertains to any particular denomination or sect. In fact all AA literature goes to great lengths to explain that this God is a “higher power” of the members understanding – members are not forced to believe in anything other than a power greater than themselves. It would be a bit vain and even naiive to assume that we humans are the greatest power in the universe. For many people this higher power is AA (or the force/synergy at work in AA that means its total is greater than the sum of its individual parts).

    There is a disctinct lack of evidence, even anecdotal, to back up any of the points that you make, which would rule the article little more than personal opinion, from someone apparently unqalified to have an opinion.

    Also, your interpretation of the Steps is again purely personal opinion, and has very little, if any, basis in reality. To say that:

    #1 We admitted we were powerless over alcohol–that our lives had become unmanageable. Surrendering responsibility for ones own actions is a fundamental act of cowardice.

    this is your interpretation of the step, and indeed mis-interpretation of the step.

    The step itself never says that the alcoholics actions are as a result of his drinking. The step says that the alcoholic is powerless over alcohol. Now whether or not you agree with the classification of Alcoholism as a disease or not, it would be wrong to argue that either an alcoholic, or someone who is not alcoholic has power over alcohol. Neither one can control the effect that alcohol has on the body. To assume that alcohol invokes the exact same chemical reaction within everyone would again be, not only presumptuous, but Naiive. Similar to making the assumption that dairy products would invoke the same chemical reaction in someone who is lactose intolerant.

    The fact that an alcoholics life has become unmanageable, is in no way blamed on alcohol. It is a mere statement of fact. It is this fact, indeed that leads the alcoholic to do something about their drinking.

    Just to ask a few questions.
    – Are you familiar with the difference between spirituality and religion?
    – Your understanding of God [that I presume you don’t believe in], does that come solely from the religions that you disagree with?
    – Have you tried reading any spiritual literature to try and get your own understanding of God/Being/Higher Power, rather than just disagree with what you think other peoples idea of God is?
    – Do you think that the universe came out of nothing, that it is going back to nothing, and that existence in itself is poinless?
    – Do you believe that the human mind is truly strong enough to understand the workings of the universe (the entire thing not just the parts we are aware of), bearing in mind that we don’t even know everything about the planet we are on?
    – Do you believe that the human mind is capable of understanding what God is?

20. I had been drinking for twenty years and was told by all concerned that I was an alcoholic and would have to attend AA and various other programs to sort myself out, nothing ever worked until I went to see a psychologist who explained to me my problem was not with alcohol but was with multiple mental health problems, I simply used alcohol to deal with it all.
    I used alcohol to deal with…
    · Stress
    · Anxiety
    · Depression
    · Hyperactivity
    And many other mental health problems, it was simply the quick fix.
    I am now learning the tools to deal with all my problems without alcohol and I am glad I found someone who did not label be as an alcoholic or a drunk.

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