“It’s not a simple matter of not doing it, because the discomfort of abstention is just too great for some.”
Discomfort? You mean like the stinging agony of diabetic pain? Or, like, shit I wish I had a drink. Please. Discomfort is not a symptom of a disease that can lead to a diagnosis. If left untreated, it will not advance beyond discomfort. There is no relationship to any facet of disease found in any addiction. If you wanted to be pychiatrically precise, you might POSSIBLY make a case for it being a symptom of a compulsive personality disorder. By your logic, rapists have a disease because the discomfort of not violently abusing someone is too great.
You are categorically wrong. There is no such thing as “disease of alcoholism.” There are lots of drunks though.
If you have no sympathy for alcoholics and think it is all a joke, how about a little sympathy for the people who live in the same society as alcoholics. This discover would help them too.
For some alcoholics, not drinking can be stressful enough to kill them. Not everybody can quit because they want to.
Sir,you are ignorant of some key facts.
Speaking from experience I know that alcohol withdrawal is truely hell. And an alcoholic quitting cold turkey can and does kill people.
I personally have a bit of a problem with the “disease” designation but that is discussion for adifferent time.
Your analogies are specious on their face. The rapist is not physically dependant, the alcoholic most definately IS. The alcoholic does not choose to be an alcoholic, it happens often times over years and is insidious in it’s progression. Most alcoholics are not aware they are one untill hopelessly mired in the addiction.
Some, likely yourself,would say that alcoholics are “weak willed”. The opposite is true, some of the most courageous, strong willed individuals you’ll find are recovering alcoholics.
Go to an open AA meeting sometime, you might learn something.