The idea that alcoholism is an illness is a relatively modern medical concept, pioneered by a number of doctors who helped the formative members of Alcoholics Anonymous get sober and stay sober in the 1930s, one of whom wrote a section of the book Alcoholics Anonymous that gives a medical opinion, for the first time, that alcoholism is an illness.
Since then, the experience of members of Alcoholics Anonymous and other routes of sobriety seem to overwhelmingly endorse the notion and experience of alcoholics, that alcoholism is a progressive illness.
Alcoholism being a progressive illness is a lived truth that many sober alcoholics will willingly confirm.
Where lines tend to get blurred about alcoholism being an illness tend to be when people try to get more specific about the nature of the illness, in terms of what it actually means, or when it is also referred to as a disease.
There is a medical difference between the idea of an illness and a disease, but there is also a more important difference in terms of perception.
Someone who is not an alcoholic can more easily accept the fact that the alcoholic is a sick person or an ill person, without fully understanding the nature of the illness.
Saying that an alcoholic has a disease fundamentally changes the frame of reference within which another individual has to understand what the alcoholic is suffering from.
Most people think of a disease in terms of something like malaria or something you catch from other people or from insects etc.
Perception is not the only issue, but when someone is trying to clarify and explain something as complex as alcoholism, referring to it as a progressive illness without getting into specifics is a much more acceptable and productive way of viewing it than referring to it as a disease.
It is probably fair to say that the majority of alcoholics who get sober, either in a rehab or by going straight to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, have at some level a felt sense that their lives are out of control, either emotionally or literally or both.
They may not understand what has caused this, and in fact may well believe that alcohol is the solution to their problem not the problem itself.
This tends to be a fundamental, core belief of alcoholics at some point of the progression of their alcoholism, that the worse everything gets, the more they turn to alcohol as being the one thing that actually matters in their lives, and the belief that alcohol is the only thing that is holding them together.
Since then, the experience of members of Alcoholics Anonymous and other routes of sobriety seem to overwhelmingly endorse the notion and experience of alcoholics, that alcoholism is a progressive illness.
Alcoholism being a progressive illness is a lived truth that many sober alcoholics will willingly confirm.
Where lines tend to get blurred about alcoholism being an illness tend to be when people try to get more specific about the nature of the illness, in terms of what it actually means, or when it is also referred to as a disease.
There is a medical difference between the idea of an illness and a disease, but there is also a more important difference in terms of perception.
Someone who is not an alcoholic can more easily accept the fact that the alcoholic is a sick person or an ill person, without fully understanding the nature of the illness.
Saying that an alcoholic has a disease fundamentally changes the frame of reference within which another individual has to understand what the alcoholic is suffering from.
Most people think of a disease in terms of something like malaria or something you catch from other people or from insects etc.
Perception is not the only issue, but when someone is trying to clarify and explain something as complex as alcoholism, referring to it as a progressive illness without getting into specifics is a much more acceptable and productive way of viewing it than referring to it as a disease.
It is probably fair to say that the majority of alcoholics who get sober, either in a rehab or by going straight to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, have at some level a felt sense that their lives are out of control, either emotionally or literally or both.
They may not understand what has caused this, and in fact may well believe that alcohol is the solution to their problem not the problem itself.
This tends to be a fundamental, core belief of alcoholics at some point of the progression of their alcoholism, that the worse everything gets, the more they turn to alcohol as being the one thing that actually matters in their lives, and the belief that alcohol is the only thing that is holding them together.