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While some people may be predisposed to becoming alcoholic, I don’t believe it is a disease. There are many factors that can lead someone to become an alcoholic, but they are not born into it. If it were so, we should have seen a great more people getting the “disease” throughout man’s history.
Alcohol and drug abuse is often the result of an inability to cope with current problems. Today’s society is fast-paced and puts emphasis on the need to perform. Unfortunately, too many people find themselves running beyond their abilities on the treadmill of life and seek for ways to relieve stress, anxiety and fear. Alcohol and drugs provide an avenue of escape from reality. But as the pace of life increases, so does the need for a fix.
Those who are prone for addiction may have an inherent chemical or biological imbalance that disposes them to the bottle, but studies show that addiction is not inherited. One of the major factors for addiction comes from learning by example. If your parents, relatives and close friends find comfort in a drug, it’s likely you will pick up the same habits. Parental example is a powerful influence on children. If they smoke, their children may start smoking too. None of this is any indication of a disease.
There is a tendency to explain away behaviors by labeling them as a disease when there is no indication or proof that there is any virus or germ that may cause it. There is a body of psychiatrists that get together every year to discuss whether the symptoms of some disorder should be labeled as a disease. By vote they call it a disease and the medical community accepts it as so. ADHD and a number of behavioral problems have been labeled as diseases. Once a disorder has the label of “disease” on it, it provides the opportunity to make a profit by the medical profession from the the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture new drugs to the doctors who prescribe them. Anti-depressant drugs are among the best selling medications, though depression, in my opinion, is not a disease but merely the symptoms exhibited by a person who has too much time on his hands. He has the luxury to worry excessively about his problems. Abraham Lincoln once said that most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Much of that has to do with the attitude and approach to a problem, neither of which prove the existence of a disease.
Alcohol and drug abuse are the result of behavior problems. And behavior problems start with the mind. How you think determines how you feel. For many, the pressures of life make them feel lousy and the only way to feel good is by having a drink. But doing so doesn’t get rid of the problem. Only a positive approach and action can overcome problems. Unfortunately, most people become accustomed by habit, reaching automatically for the cigarette, the booze or popping the pills. This is not the mark of a disease.
Time was when a disease was something caused by a virus of some sort. Today, everything is labeled a disease. It’s a convenient way to sell more drugs, but most of our “diseases” such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and others are the end result of a poor lifestyle.
Perhaps some day the “authorities” will label divorce as a disease since one of every two marriages fail.
Eliminate the fats, sugar and unhealthy chemicals and ingredients in most of the food we eat, getting exercise and changing the ingrained habits we’ve developed over the years and we are more likely to find a “cure” for those so called diseases. An improper lifestyle invites viruses and germs to find a home in the body where they can do harm simply because we have weakened our immune system so it cannot do the job it was designed to do. Disease does not strike a healthy body. I recall one minister mentioning to his congregation that we are not meant to be sick.
Smoking, drinking and drug addictions are not diseases. They can be prevented through a proper lifestyle and the sooner we make those important changes, the healthier we will all be and the poorer the medical system that promotes sickness in the name of profit.
Posted by mrmagica 