Alan,
This is a reply to:
http://www.astronomy.net/forums/god/messages/22193.shtm
Everything you say is nice and cool. We all have ideas about the world. You have yours, I have mine, doctorszasz has his. Problem is, when ideas conflict, what do we do? The best thing humanity has discovered, so far, to test the truth of an idea over any compething others is: check against reality!
So it is that you have a "theory of alcoholism". Your theory says "alcoholics is not a disease". But psychiatrists have another theory, and their theory says "alcoholism is a disease". Who's right and who's wrong? Can I suggest something? Let's ask the alcoholics themselves! They certainly know more about alcoholism than you and I and doctorszasz.
And the truth is, I'm sorry to say, is that a lot of people who struggled with alcoholism for a long time but eventually "cured themselves" simply by realizing that they were sick!
It's a moving experience, often shown as scenes in movies, but one I witnessed myself more than once, to watch an ex-alcoholic relate how he or she felt relieved to know that alcoholism was a flaw in his or her organism rather than his or her psyche. It must be a wonderful feeling to understand that that aspect of your behaviour which ruins your family, your career, your life, is not really a conscious choice on your part, but the interplay of forces you can't directly control. That gives them power, it gives them knowledge to understand that they are strong enough not to drink the first dose but weak enough to resist drink the second, the third, the fifteenth.
So it's not whether "alcoholism is a disease" is true or not, the point is, does seeing alcoholism as a disease help people get rid of the habit? That's the only meaningful question, the rest is just pointless word games.
Now if you don't agree with this, I suggest you pay a visit to your local AA.
Have fun,
??????
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