Controversies of Alcoholism

After much deliberation on Alcoholism I have learned a lot on this topic and I definitely have a different view on a lot of things. Alcoholism is said to be a inherited medical disease and is the third leading death in America. It can affect the body in many ways. Alcohol is a stimulant causing a person to feel more alert, energized, confident an euphoric and it a heavy intake of alcohol can depress the nervous system which can increase your lack of coordination, impair your speech, and cause someone to make poor decisions. Aside from the many health problems that you can have when having a heavy intake of alcohol the people around you can be affected. Alcoholism in my opinion is the abuse of alcohol over a heavy period of time and there are treatments for it but those to vary.

The medical definition of Alcoholism is said to be an inherited medical disease. When reading more into this I interpreted this definition as if your parents are alcoholic then you will most likely be an alcoholic. Being an alcoholic is something you can learn I do not think it is something you can inherit. Statistics show that 80% of alcoholics do not have an alcoholic parent. So even though this may be a good way to define some people it can not define all people. I think that this definition is in some kind of way to label people for generations.

There are said to be many ways to "cure" this disease such as AA. My opinion on AA is that it is made for people who are severely alcoholic and are in need of someone who can "baby-sit" them . It isn't a valid treatment and about 80% of alcoholics spontaneously Quit. AA can work for those people who are said to be very dependent on people. It's nothing more than a small self- sorting group of alcoholics. Many alcoholics do not like meeting in large groups. After revising some of the handouts I do believe that AA can work for people who have acute episodes of drinking and /or drink excessively