Alcoholism varying definitions
Ed Philips
Alcoholism has many differing meanings. If often means continuing to drink heavily in the face of significant social and health issues. Some view alcoholism as a social problem, others as a medical disease. The term can refer to feeling compelled to drink alcohol, and also an inability to see the negative influence heavy drinking has. Most indicate that current alcohol consumption is necessary for alcoholism, and others mention the long-term issues of heavy drinking such as dependence on alcohol resulting in symptoms of withdrawal.
While the ingestion of alcohol is, by definition, necessary to develop alcoholism, the use of alcohol does not predict the development of alcoholism. The quantity, frequency and regularity of alcohol consumption required to develop alcoholism varies greatly from person to person. In addition, although the biological mechanisms underpinning alcoholism are uncertain, some risk factors, including social environment, emotional health and genetic predisposition, have been identified.
Most people think of the Alcoholics Anonymous when asked about the term 'alcoholism'. In fact it was first used as early as 1849 by a Swedish physician. In the U.S.A., 'alcoholism' was first brought into popular use by the birth of the AA in 1939. The 'Big Book' used by the AA lacked any clear definition, so it compared it to an illness like an allergy.
A 1960 study by E. Morton Jellinek is considered the foundation of the modern disease theory of alcoholism. Jellinek's definition restricted the use of the word "alcoholism" to those showing a particular natural history. The modern medical definition of alcoholism has been revised numerous times since then. The American Medical Association currently uses the word alcoholism to refer to a particular chronic primary disease.A minority within the medical field, notably Herbert Fingarette and Stanton Peele, argue against the existence of this disease. However, critics of the disease model acknowledge that the word "alcoholism" refers to a disease, and use the term "heavy drinking" when discussing the negative effects of alcohol consumption.
Due to alcoholism's unclear definition, the disease is often hard to precisely detect. There is no physiological difference between someone who drinks frequently and an alcoholic. One must assess objectively the negative effects alcohol consumption is having on a person's life and the benefits the drinker believes to be receiving from continuing to abuse alcohol. It is often obvious when an alcoholic's life has been severely damaged by excessive drinking, but identifying the person as an alcoholic can be difficult in more complicated cases.
The main result of alcohol dependence is to force the victim to drink amounts of alcohol that are damaging to the body and mind. There is also collateral damage from the alcoholic's inability to control his behaviour, and this can have a wider impact on others.
It is not unusual for an alcoholic to keep drinking even after his physical health deteriorates. The negative health issues caused by excessive alcohol consumption include alcoholic dementia, heart disease, epilepsy, cirrhosis and in many cases death.
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