Is Alcoholism A Disease Research Paper

Is alcoholism a disease? There has been a vast amount of controversy over this question for a number of years. There are many sides taken upon this question and neither stance has been fully proven. Some experts have argued that parts of it can be a disease and parts of it are not. Alcoholism is a disease that comes in many forms varying from mild, recreational usage to frequent abuse and a severe, chronic disease. Alcoholism is classified in many different ways depending upon tolerance, withdrawal, and compulsion coupled with many more. Alcoholism affects many types of people as well ranging from young teens to senior citizens and everything inbetween. Alcoholism is a real problem people are facing all around the world and it is not curable

Diseases can change the character of certain people in many negative ways. The effects alcohol may have on people include drowsiness, vomiting, diarrhea, blackouts, headaches, and impaired judgement. Alcoholism is defined as the addiction of the consumption of alcoholic beverages or alcohol chemical compounds and the compulsive behavior from its dependency. Alcohol comes in many different shapes form and sizes. The main categories are beer, wine, and liquor and many other subcategories form from these. Alcohol is not a glamorous, miraculous thing raining down from the heavens. Everything is okay in moderation but overtime that “moderation” can consume someone’s life. Alcohol is nothing to be taken lightly it has ruined a great deal of lives and will continue to do so until it is recognized as a major problem influencing a large amount of the world’s

The biased opinion is that there are those who definitely have a disease, so everyone with a drinking problem has a disease that is eventually fatal and needs recovery. Then there are those who say some patients have alcohol problems that do not meet a disease profile so the whole case of alcoholism being classified as a disease is a lost cause. This problem can be fixed by paying closer attention to the research and improving the evaluation of the diagnosis. This is obtained by picking out the three types of alcoholism displayed in the disease model: primary, secondary, and reactive alcohol and drug abuse. Primary alcoholism is “where alcoholism develops before any other psychiatric pathology,” ( Barbour, 104 ). This type can occur early on from genetics or later on from environmental pressure. Secondary alcoholism is “where a psychopathology, primarily anti-social disorders or conduct disorders, precede the development of the addiction,” ( Barbour, 104 ). Reactive alcohol and drug abuse is when a person drinks or abuses other drugs in response to heavy environmental stressors such as obscene events like war ( Vietnam ). The primary addiction is the easiest to combat. It is classified as a disease of the brain. The brain transforms the drug into a reward