Is Alcoholism a medical condition?

Iwannahurl

mathepac wrote: »

But addiction / alcoholism / chemical dependency / other term is classified as a disease / disorder / illness by medical and psychiatric specialists. It is recognised as a primary illness, that means it is not a consequence or result of another illness or condition. It also means that drinking doesn't cause alcoholism, the drinking is an outward sign or symptom of the condition.

Where medical and holistic opinions diverge a lot of the time is in terms of treatment. The medics, generally, see alcoholism as a disease of the mind, a mental illness, that has both mental and physical consequences, while the holistic community tend to view alcoholism as a disease of the body, mind and spirit.

Where they both tend to agree is what needs to be done after the body and mind have begun to recover and that is to focus on the spiritual recovery, so medics tend not to have problems referring clients to AA or 12-step based treatment centres.

HTH

I would argue that there is a difference between a disease and a diagnostic category.

In terms of disease/disorder classification systems based on the Medical Model, such as the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a key factor is whether and how practitioners are reimbursed by health insurers.

Different labels come and go (the DSM5 is a lot different from its early predecessors, as the story of an infamous APA vote confirms), but people and their 'problems of living' are pretty much the same. Here's the British Psychological Society's general view on the forthcoming DSM5:

The putative diagnoses presented in DSM-V are clearly based largely on social norms, with 'symptoms' that all rely on subjective judgements, with little confirmatory physical 'signs' or evidence of biological causation. The criteria are not value-free, but rather reflect current normative social expectations. Many researchers have pointed out that psychiatric diagnoses are plagued by problems of reliability, validity, prognostic value, and co-morbidity.

On the subject of the revised diagnosed category "Substance Use and Addictive Disorders" the BPS says:

We are concerned that clients and the general public are negatively affected by the continued and continuous medicalisation of their natural and normal responses to their experiences; responses which undoubtedly have distressing consequences which demand helping responses, but which do not reflect illnesses so much as normal individual variation.

We believe that classifying these problems as ‘illnesses’ misses the relational context of problems and the undeniable social causation of many such problems. For psychologists, our well-being and mental health stem from our frameworks of understanding of the world, frameworks which are themselves the product of the experiences and learning through our lives.

We note with concern the concept of ‘Gambling Disorder’. Gambling is a problem, and it is a social phenomenon and issue that requires study and response. However, we feel it is conceptually wrong to regard this as an illness with symptoms. We recognise that here – as in other ‘disorders’ – no concept of organic pathology is necessarily implied (DSM-V is, we recognise, intended to be a useful list of ‘disorders’), but we also are aware that inclusion in such a list has implications, and we strongly feel that an alternative non-medical conceptualisation is called for.

One implication of the revised Substance Use and Addictive Disorders category, reportedly, is that medical practitioners will find it easier to be reimbursed by insurers for dealing with drug and alcohol problems. That could be a good thing, if it encourages early intervention, counselling etc.

However, others see potential dangers in what you could call diagnostic inflation. Here's a Time article on the potential implications of medical labels: http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/14/dsm-5-could-mean-40-of-college-students-are-alcoholics/

areyawell

Yes obviously, just like gambling addiction is a disease.

9959

areyawell wrote: »

Yes obviously, just like gambling addiction is a disease.

Sex addiction, Shopping addiction, Chocolate addiction, addiction to counselling, perhaps they're all diseases too?
What about excessive narcissism leading to Plastic surgery compulsion, Jordan et al.
Kleptomania, Pyromania.
An inability to drag yourself away from the PlayStation or Xbox.
Posting far too often on boards.ie (guilty)!
Perhaps we should throw all the above in with Leprosy and Leukemia, then we'd all have a disease.
Better still, we could all assuage our guilt.

Iwannahurl

9959 wrote: »

Posting far too often on boards.ie (guilty)!
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Is Boards addiction reimbursable I wonder?

areyawell

9959 wrote: »

Sex addiction, Shopping addiction, Chocolate addiction, addiction to counselling, perhaps they're all diseases too?
What about excessive narcissism leading to Plastic surgery compulsion, Jordan et al.
Kleptomania, Pyromania.
An inability to drag yourself away from the PlayStation or Xbox.
Posting far too often on boards.ie (guilty)!
Perhaps we should throw all the above in with Leprosy and Leukemia, then we'd all have a disease.
Better still, we could all assuage our guilt.

Yes okay, I see where your from coming from. But alcohol affects health so is it a disease?

9959

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Is Boards addiction reimbursable I wonder?

With the amount you've posted, they'll have to give you a 'haircut'!