Defining Alcoholism
June 3, 2008
When you see someone in the street drinking something out of a brown paper bag, you automatically assume that they are drinking alcohol, although it is difficult to pin point back to when it actually took off. We can though confirm that the ideology of alcoholism dates back to 1849 when Magnus Huss first linked the consumption of alcohol to serious health conditions.
It wasn’t until the late 1930s that the word alcoholism was officially recognized by the US as a result of the forming of the still well known support group Alcoholics Anonymous or as it is now commonly referred to as AA. Although is it not clearly defined as such they do insist that it lies somewhere between an illness and an allergy and that getting over it requires the assistance of team support methods of accountability and responsibility, which are still the preferred methods to control alcoholism.
E. Morton Jellinek, a doctor from New England, was the first to classify problems seen in chronic alcoholics. Jellinek’s definition of the alcoholic stated: ‘Alcoholics are those excessive drinkers whose dependence on alcohol has attained such a degree that it shows notable disturbance or an interference with their bodily and mental health, their personal relationships and smooth economic functioning or who show signs of such a development.
He therefore concluded that treatment was necessary and nothing much has changed since then except that the definition has been slightly altered by a number of medical affiliations. The word alcoholism is currently referred to by the American Medical Association as a particular chronic primary disease.
There are though let’s say a minority in the medical profession who just will not accept that alcoholism is actually a disease, so critics like Herbert Fingarette and Stanton Peele only use the term heavy drinking in relation with the harmful effects of alcohol consumption.
So due to the fact that alcoholism does not actually have a concluded definition, the disease itself is not always easy to detect. It is extremely difficult to really pick out the differences between an alcoholic and somebody who just drinks on a regular basis. If you need a more detailed review regarding the disease of alcoholism then you should start off by having a look at the stopdrinking.org blog which is packed with useful information.
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