Alcoholism: Is not a disease

Below is an exert from an advocate of the choice community. I put it here so people could read it. Do I know whether alcoholism is a disease (according to the AMA)? Not really. I choose to treat it as a disease. If I see it as a chronic disease I don't see a way to dabble in it's treatment. Chronic means it is going to get worse. It's not going away. So if I ignore it - I'll die from it. If I don't apply the full force of my energies towards arresting it and recovering from it - I'll die from it. So I don't care who defines this or that. I just know what I've found out so far.

  "It has been estimated that 5.5 million Americans are in need of help for substance abuse issues. In 1988, 10.5 million U.S. residents could be diagnosed with alcohol dependency as set forth by the AMA and DSM IV, and 7.2 million more abused alcohol. Estimates among the general population indicate that 6-12% have substance abuse problems.
The population of substance abusers has slowly increased since the 1930’s coinciding with the spread of the disease concept and governmental interference in individual freedoms.
What is interesting is that since the 70’s the percentage substance abuse population has increased dramatically, just like the popularity and prevalence of the drug treatment industry. The question is: if the multi-billion dollar war on drugs and the multi-billion dollar treatment industry have been growing, why does the drug problem continue to get worse?
Irrefutable empirical evidence has shown that organizations and institutions who promote, and adhere to, the disease concept, fail when trying to help people with substance abuse problems.
Alcoholics Anonymous has successfully promoted itself as the only hope for alcohol abusers. The public perception is that Alcoholics Anonymous works, but the reality is something completely different.
In 65 years Alcoholics Anonymous has become a part of our social structure. Its tenets have led the medical establishment and been used to diagnose patients with alcoholism while simultaneously giving birth to dozens of spin-off anonymous meetings.
It’s most outstanding accomplishment has been successfully promoting a fictitious disease, as fact, and to be absorbed into the very fabric of our society.
But, while Alcoholics Anonymous has accomplished the unthinkable, its accomplishments have damaged the society. Although its intentions are synonymous with help, the organization’s lies and manipulations have damaged society as a whole, costing taxpayers billions of dollars and costing families the lives of their loved ones.
In 1990, the Alcoholic’s Anonymous General Services Office or AA GSO, the governing organization overseeing all “autonomous” meetings, published an internal memo for the employees of its offices.
It was an analysis of a survey period between 1977 and 1989. The results were in absolute contrast to the public perception of AA. “After just one month in the Fellowship, 81% of the new members have already dropped out. After three months, 90% have left, and a full 95% have disappeared inside one year!” (Kolenda, 2003, Golden Text Publishing Company)
That means that in under a year, 95% of the people seeking help from AA leave the program. While this only speaks for attendance, it has further implications. AA surveyors do not include dropouts in their sobriety statistics, which is a deceptive, if not outright dishonest, practice.
Using the AA GSO statistics, and including the program dropouts, the success rate of AA, as a whole “…the total averages of sobriety for the total AA membership become 3.7% for one year [of sobriety], and 2.5% over five years.” (Kolenda, 2003, Golden Text Publishing Company) It’s important to understand that 95% of all substance abuse treatment centers in the United States are 12 step based programs. Thus, the failures of AA, are also the failures of treatment.
Repeated studies have shown that the average person, who could be diagnosed with a substance abuse problem, will discontinue use on their own 20-30% of the time.
But, those who are exposed to AA and treatment, and who are taught the disease concept, have a drastically decreased chance of achieving sobriety. While treatment professionals are aware of program failure, governing organizations support and promote the adoption of 12 Step tenets into treatment programs for substance abusers.
Families pay tens of thousands of dollars to help their loved ones only to place them in programs that follow guidelines of another failing program. Any program based on a program that fails will inevitably fail. For most, 12 Step has become synonymous with failure.
In contrast, programs that teach control and choice are far more successful than programs that teach the disease concept.
While conventional treatment methods result in a 3% success rate after five years, programs that do not teach the disease concept, and instead teach choice, have success rates of 86% after five and even ten years (Baldwin Research Institute 2003).
In conclusion, after reviewing the available research from both sides of the debate, the belief in the disease of alcoholism, creates the existence of the disease.
Organizations and institutions that promote the disease concept are, in many cases, doing irreparable harm to the individual and performing a disservice to the population as a whole.
Geneticists are aware that a predisposition does not dictate subsequent behavior, and treatment professionals are aware that the programs they offer, fail.
It is an outright injustice when faced with the facts. Stripping human beings of their ability to choose is damaging, whereas giving them back the power of their own volition is essential for recovery. Alcoholism is a choice, not a disease."
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Timothy J. Falcone, Copyright 2003 Baldwin Research Institute, Inc.
original article at
http://www.soberforever.net/researchdisease2003.cfm