Defining Alcoholism
Ed Philips
Brown Bag Alcoholic drinks date back thousands of years. Although no one quite knows of their original discovery, it seems likely that they have been a part of history since the beginning. Magnus Huss first coined the word (alcoholism) in 1849, being the first to classify the systematic damage that was attributable to alcohol.
It wasn't until the late 1930s that the word alcoholism was officially recognized by the US as a result of the forming of the still well known support group Alcoholics Anonymous or as it is now commonly referred to as AA. Although is it not clearly defined as such they do insist that it lies somewhere between an illness and an allergy and that getting over it requires the assistance of team support methods of accountability and responsibility, which are still the preferred methods to control alcoholism.
E. Morton Jellinek, a doctor from New England, was the first to classify problems seen in chronic alcoholics. Jellinek's definition of the alcoholic stated: 'Alcoholics are those excessive drinkers whose dependence on alcohol has attained such a degree that it shows notable disturbance or an interference with their bodily and mental health, their personal relationships and smooth economic functioning or who show signs of such a development.
He therefore concluded that treatment was necessary and nothing much has changed since then except that the definition has been slightly altered by a number of medical affiliations. The word alcoholism is currently referred to by the American Medical Association as a particular chronic primary disease.
Some minorities in the medical field, such as Herbert Fingarette and Stanton Peele, argue against alcoholism being considered a disease. But, critics of the disease theory acknowledge that the word alcoholism; refers to a disease, and use the term heavy drinking; when discussing the harmful effects of alcohol consumption.
So the definition of alcoholism remains an uncertainty meaning that it is extremely hard to detect, especially as there isn't much to separate an alcoholic from a person who just drinks on regular basis. I am afraid that this debate will just have to continue and if you want to participate in finding a solution then you need to investigate what is going on over at the stopdrinking.org blog as this seems to be the only place which is putting an effort at all into finding the answer.
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