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Posts Tagged ‘disease’

Does A.A. define alcohol as a drug?

14 May

NO. Narcotics Anonymous does, some in the medical community do, but Alcoholics Anonymous does NOT.

Alcoholics Anonymous is not affiliated with the American Medical Association, or any other outside entity. AA does not endorse the AMA, and has no opinion on medical or other health-related conditions.

For A.A.’s various Descriptions of the Alcoholic:

Read, “The Doctor’s Opinion”
Read, “Bill’s Story”
Read, “There is a Solution”
Read, “More About Alcoholism”

For A.A.’s Description of The Four Categories of Drinkers:

This starts on the bottom of page 108 and continues through page 113.

For great descriptions of The Newcomer:

Read, “To Wives” substitute ‘father,’ or ‘husband,’ with ‘newcomer.’

A DRUG definition
The FDA defines a drug as “any substance or mixture of substances manufactured, sold, or represented for use in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation, or prevention of a disease, disorder, abnormal physical state, or symptoms thereof, in man or animal, or restoring, correcting, or modifying functions in man or animal.”
Some consider that alcohol has been used for ‘medicinal purposes’ in the past, so they prefer to call it a drug—opinions are mixed today.

What is alcohol?
The CDC’s definition: Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is an intoxicating ingredient found in beer, wine, and liquor. Alcohol is produced by the fermentation of yeast, sugars, and starches. LINK to the CDC website.

Ethyl alcohol or ethanol (CH3CH2OH) is found in beer, wine, and liquor. It is chemically distinct from other types of alcohol, such as isopropyl (rubbing alcohol), that would be toxic if ingested. In its purest form, ethanol is colorless, odorless, and has a boiling temperature lower than water. It provides 7 kilocalories per gram.
Ethanol is produced through the natural process of fermentation, which occurs when plant sugars (typically in grains or fruits) interact with yeast, resulting in the production of enzymes that convert the sugars to ethanol. Beer and wine can be produced from natural fermentation. Liquor, unlike beer and wine, is distilled after fermentation.
Some consider that alcohol is best categorized as a food.

REMEMBER: AA has NO official opinion on any outside definitions, so please do not take your opinions into AA meetings and try to pass them off as AA fact. It is best to stay with the Big Book definitions.

_____________________________________________________
ETC, a recovered (but not cured) alcoholic in Oregon

 
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Posted in It's in the Book, Tradition 10

 

“DISEASE” is a Concept / Metaphor, not a Definition

25 Apr

Bill Wilson addressed the annual meeting of the National Catholic Clergy Conference on Alcoholism in 1961: “We have never called alcoholism a disease because, technically speaking, it is not a disease entity. For example, there is no such thing as heart disease. Instead there are many separate heart ailments, or combinations of them. It is something like that with alcoholism. Therefore we did not wish to get in wrong with the medical profession by pronouncing alcoholism a disease entity. Therefore we always called it an illness, or a malady—a far safer term for us to use.”

AN ILLNESS

The closest the book Alcoholics Anonymous comes to a definition of alcoholism appears on p. 44, at the conclusion of the first paragraph of the “We Agnostics” chapter, where we are told that alcoholism “is an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.”

It is mentioned first on page 64 in discussing alcoholism:
“Resentment is the ‘number one’ offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally
and physically.”

Dr. Silkworth, in “The Doctor’s Opinion” offered a strong description of the alcoholic. not some theoretical explanation of “alcoholism.”

In A.A.’s pamphlet, 44 Questions, this is the answer to the question What is Alcoholism?

“There are many different ideas about what alcoholism really is. The explanation that seems to make sense to most A.A. members is that alcoholism is an illness, a progressive illness, which can never be cured but which, like some other illnesses, can be arrested. Going one step further, many A.A.s feel that the illness represents the combination of a physical sensitivity to alcohol and a mental obsession with drinking, which, regardless of consequences, cannot be broken by will power alone”

The nature of alcoholism as a disease is often considered an “outside issue.”

Tradition Ten— “ Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.” So Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole has no official opinion on it.

It is used as a ‘concept’ rather than a medical definition.

This helps show that we are sick and need help—it is not a moral deficiency or a behavior problem. A newcomer CAN UNDERSTAND THAT and it is then easier to accept his predicament (a painful death or going insane or recovery on a spiritual basis).

Many A.A. members just use the term ‘disease’ because it’s been carried over from treatment, hospitals, NA—it has become customary, and it works for a general understanding of some of the alcoholic’s problems.

“Use of this metaphor (the word ‘disease’) removes the stigma generally attached to alcoholism in society, allowing A.A. participants to see themselves as ‘sick’ rather than ‘bad.’ “  (Conrad and Schneider, 1980)

For more information: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/message/5691
(a link to a piece from Glenn Chesnut in ‘AA History Lovers Group’)

ETC—a recovered (but not cured) alcoholic in Oregon
 
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Posted in Spiritual illness