Denial and guilt (created because it's not socially acceptable) keep people from getting the help they need whether it's a twelve step, counseling or other help.
You are counting on the AMA to determine what is and what is not a disease? The same AMA that had homosexuality as a disease until the gay lobby organized and put pressure on them for it NOT to be a disease? THAT AMA?
Social acceptability really isn’t the reason alcoholics don’t go to AA, it’s only an excuse. Their not wanting to quit drinking is the reason. When an alcoholic wants to quit, s/he doesn’t give a damn about social acceptability.
Needing to go to the liquor store to quell a craving for alcohol is not a 'disease' any more than having a physical addiction to cocaine, crack, heroin, or Ho Hos is a disease.
Physical and mental addiction is a medical condition that needs to be treated as such, but it is not a disease. Cancer is a disease. Polio is a disease.
It's no secret that people can become addicted to intoxicating substances just as its no secret that the AMA involves themselves in things like gun control and classifies things like acid reflux as a 'disease'.
This is a trend that has started with drug addiction and alcoholism and is likely to spread to obese people or sex addicts, classifying them as innocent victims of a disease rather than people who have issues controlling themselves.
No one needs the AMA to tell us that some people are more susceptible to becoming addicted to certain substances. Nobody needed the AMA to tell them that imbibing certain things affects different people in different ways.
Calling it a disease creates the illusion that this is something that is a pure medical condition and requires a medical solution.
I know alcoholics that have quit drinking cold turkey using nothing but old fashioned will power. For others it usually something more to quit.
So tell me, have you ever heard of an ALS sufferer cure themselves with nothing but willpower?