Alcoholism: A Disease and Its Obstacles
Attempting to define alcoholism or alcoholics is ambiguous at bestnot one absolute or clear definition that is agreed upon among the medicalsocial scientists, or alcoholics themselves. This makes it very difficulttreatments and how these treatments should come about and whether or notgovernment should fund them. Membership in this group is fluid in thereally does not discriminate, and it is always growing. That is if youdefinition of an alcoholic that insists that an alcoholic is always anadmits that he/she has a problem. In essence, he/she never becomes asuggesting a behavior that is discontinued, rather that he/she is ahas to work at recovery day in and day out. There have been a variety ofhave suffered from alcohol abuse in this country, most famously, Bettytreatment centers are named, and the current President of the United
"(Weiner, 12) Just as many drinkers are termed, "functional alcoholics" sois the verylame definition that doesn't provide any genuine insight into the disease. Alcoholism hasbeen a serious health issue for centuries and yet, "the first NationalConference onAlcohol Abuse Prevention occurred in August 1986. The National Institute on AlcoholAbuse andAlcoholism remains at the forefront of organizations. Yet there areno identifiable patterns for predetermining alcohol abuse - genetic,social, andpsychological. " (Langton 243) Lastly, "some researchers in the alcohol field argue that preventionof excessivedrinking, alcoholism, and alcohol-related problems among the entirepopulation are theaims of the public-health approach. They differ in the sense that alcohol is a constant in their day-to-day lives. " (Beauchamp, 212) Even thoughalcoholics aremarginalized because many people tend to believe it is a "people" problemand not agenuine disease, we may note that the AMA is an activist organization thatsupports thepublic-health approach to alcohol abuse. Some experts have noted in recent years that theremay exist analcoholic gene that predisposes some people to become alcoholics whileothers may bedeemed as nothing more than social drinkers. Many people do not consider them to be worthy of sympathy becausetheirproblem was self-inflicted. This kind of discrimination does not permitfunding fordisease control or cure unless of course, alcoholism is considered adisease. There is noethnic tie to consumption of alcohol despite the stereotyping that existsabout thedrinking habits of Irish and/or German immigrants or their descendants. Cops may be more likely to be alcoholics because of the stresslevels that theymust endure over the course of a job, but this too may prove to be nothingmore than astereotype as it is very difficult to ascertain the causes of the alcoholabuse - be it job,family, or inherited. We can see that alcoholics always seem to grow in number even if they areassimilatedback into society.
Common topics in this essay:
George Bush,
,
Abuse Prevention,
Abuse Alcoholism,
AIDS Cancer,
alcohol abuse,
Betty Ford,
serious health,
alcoholics marginalized,
public-health approach,
Alcohol Abuse,
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Acceptance Essays
