Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

[Victory]

Well if alcoholism is not a disease as per link [by lucky] it might be a mental illness? One lady posted that her husband made the comment, ?that it was like she put her fingers into an electric socket, appeared to learn nothing by it and kept poking her fingers back in?. I chugged down a bottle of Vodka last night, [not beating up on myself] but feel like sh*t physically. That we keep hurting ourselves over and over is definitely a mental illness or otherwise how could one explain it???????????

[Determinatrix]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

Maybe we haven't learned what we needed to so that we don't have to repeat the behavior. Ask yourself why you are chugging down a bottle of Vodka. If you understand and learn what you can from the motive, maybe the motive will cease to exist, or at least be more understandable to make baby steps towards the end result you are looking for.

Hope you feel better soon, Victory.

Love your name. It is within your grasp.

Dx

[lushy]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

I don't think it is a mental illness at all. It is matter of brain chemistry. We drink, which ups all of the feel good chemicals and our brain gets conditioned to expect it and like it. When the brain does not get its fix we crave. When we give in we are continuing to condition the brain to expect this influx of feel good chemicals. After a while the brain stops producing these chemicals on its own so we drink more to make us feel like "normal" people. That is why I feel nutritional supplementation is so critical; feeding the brain what we have depleted from it is a great start to reaching our goals.

I love your name too!

[universal]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

I know why I drink - and it is a brutal mental cycle that I do to myself. I get saddened or depressed or the fear of being along (bad marriage breakup 7 years ago and seem to F*** up every relationship since) - not a bad home life but a broken home, watched my mom cry over my dad leaving her all the time (dad cheated, my husband cheated, my BF's currently cheating) - gee, I wonder if maybe I have trust issues.........thus I drink.......and then I do stupid things and ruin everything and get sad and drink some more - the never ending cycle. Took antidepressants for a while but they didn't help, they actually made my cravings for alcohol worse..........

Frustrated...........

[Preciouspinot]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

Very well stated Lushy...bravo.(this is why we voted her Queen of MWO) No, it is not a mental illness. I believe it is a mix of a behaviorial disorder, genetics, and chemical dependancy.

[Guest]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

I was just thinking earlier today:

Alcoholism is not a disease, but liver disease is.

I don't believe that alcholism is a disease, but over drinking can be very serious though. To say that alcoholism is not a disease does not mean that overdrinking over a long period of time should not be taken seriously.

I agree with Lushy that supplementation is necesary to break the cycle of addiction. We do what we do because we are addicted to alcohol not because we are crazy. Craving is a physical problem and has a physical solution.

Bethany
My 02

Alcoholism is not a disease, but liver disease is.

[KateH1]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

Alcoholism was given the "Disease" label so that it would fit correct criteria to allow payment for treatment by the medical community. There are many different levels of disease. Mental illness, nope! I agree that research has proven that there is a brain component to addiction. We also know that an alcoholic might also have a different type of brain chemistry. In addition there are behavioral aspects, habits and triggers.

Though some alcoholics might also suffer from mental illness, not all alcoholics are mentally ill.
KateH

[Victory]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

Dear all,
Hurting ourselves over and over and over is just not normal. Drank last night after 10 sober days, NO physical cravings just wanted a mental holiday? The cost was high physically, but no humiliation or shame feelings. Did let myself down again. So to me it?s the equivalent of sticking my fingers back into the power socket and not learning from the previous experience. Total Madness? My goal and Victory will be AF for life. Self employed and have been working 7 days for over 2 years. Last week clocked in 74 hours = over 9 days in a 7 day week. Financially not able to employ others yet. And this drink til drop stuff is just insanity. If not a disease then madness.
:baaah:

[Finding My Self]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

Hey Victory - 74 hours? 9 days in 7? That's the madness?!?!? WHO is so much more important than you, for you to exhaust yourself to the point of drinking? Customers? Clients? 'Other people'? Reputation? NONE of these are worth you needing, probably, to drink to keep your energy up to do this 'too much' type of life.... (Have a look at Beatle's Alcohol and Thyroid thread...can't remember the exact name, but there you'll find out about adrenal exhaustion and how loads of folk turn to alcohol to keep the energy levels up....

So, stop burning yourself out and and you'll need less booze - then you can begin to make a choice about it...

Sorry if this seems harsh out of the blue....I mean, we haven't even 'met' before!! But things like, "Just wanted a mental holiday" and things jumped out at me!!! Felt a bit of :h and started typing!

Good luck to you - you're still a brilliant bod if you work fewer hours!
FMS xx

[Cinders]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

Wow, Lushy!!

I just wanted to add my two worthless cents to this.

Personally, I don't care if it is a disease or a mental illness or a syndrome or a watchamcallit. Those are just semantics.

Addiction - be it alcohol, opiates, stimulants, gambling, nicotine, whatever - is a reality. It is the only condition where we keep doing the same destructive behavior over and over again, somehow expecting different results than the last thousand times.

Lushy is right on about the "feel good" thing. There is evidence that there are some of us who are from birth without as many of the "feel good" receptors as other people. Therefore, when we start drinking/drugging we suddenly feel GREAT!! Unfortunately, alcohol also stops our brains from producing the chemicals that make us feel good on its own because we are supplying it artificially. (Damn body adapts!!)

That is why we can go through detox and get over the physical withdrawals but still feel drawn to the alcohol. It is not like overnight the body responds and starts manufacturing that stuff that makes us feel good. Also, we have damaged some of those receptors and they need to be healed before they can absorb the feel good chemicals. What a pickle!!

The supplementation that RJ has put together is designed to help speed up all this healing and help us feel better than without it but we need to be aware what is going on so we can rationally deal with those cravings.

The exercise component is also a very important piece of this, releasing endorphins, etc.

The spiritual component addresses the rest of the equation. Connecting with ourselves spiritually helps us feel good, too.

Nonetheless, the reason it is difficult is that our brains remember the initial feelings we experienced in the beginning and keep trying to make us go back there. That is what we are fighting. The lower part of the brain, simply trying to make us do what worked in the past, and the higher part of the brain, our rational part that needs to keep that lower part at bay. It is a struggle.

This model is addressed by AA, Rational Recovery, MWO and many of the non 12 Step programs. Which is why I don't argue for or against any of the methods. Whatever works for someone works. (We have personally witnessed this on MWO with so many of our special people here.)

To complicate matters, there are drinkers who do not have the initial brain chemistry issue but have hurt the production of these feel good chemicals by drinking too much and are definitely needing to quit drinking for a while in order to get back in balance. These are the people who can moderate in the future.

As usual, queen Lushy hit the nail right on the head.

Love,
Cindi

[AMELIA]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

lushy;230738 wrote: I don't think it is a mental illness at all. It is matter of brain chemistry. We drink, which ups all of the feel good chemicals and our brain gets conditioned to expect it and like it. When the brain does not get its fix we crave. When we give in we are continuing to condition the brain to expect this influx of feel good chemicals. After a while the brain stops producing these chemicals on its own so we drink more to make us feel like "normal" people. That is why I feel nutritional supplementation is so critical; feeding the brain what we have depleted from it is a great start to reaching our goals.

I love your name too!

Yep, I am totally with you on this one Lushy. I think we think it is all about self control, however I believe that the brain's chemistry is unbelievably strong and that once you are in the vicious cycle of drinking to excess, your mind becomes muddled and overwhelmed by the wayward brain chemistry that drinking creates.

[beatle]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

yay Queen Lushy. All bow to the Queen.

I actually agree with most everything said here, so yay on you all, too. (I just like the concise way the Queen put it. hail hail.) However, I would actually add the last sentence of Precisoupinot's post to get in other aspects of the equation.

But great points everyone. Cindi, keep your insights coming. FMS, I agree on your take on overworking (BTDT-- and guess what, that's when I started abusing alcohol!).

Victory, thanks for posting. Hope you got something out of it. 10 days AF is great. Just get back there again girl and keep going.

[Lotus]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

I personally think it is a mental illness. Every morning I wake up and promise myself that I will not drink - that I look sh*t and feel sh*t. I write on here for encouragement and feel really motivated.....but then by 5pm I suffer from amnesia and start drinking again.

Last night I spilt half of my wine down the sink, because I could not physically drink it. Every sip I did have was forced - it was like my throat had been clamped. Physically our bodies are rejecting it but mentally we want that buzz.

[trixietrack]

Alcoholsism if not a disease then a mental illness???

lately I have been thinking that it's like an eating disorder.
I have also noticed that stress and anxiety seems to be a big big trigger.
all humans have the instinct to find a way to soothe themselves when stressed and anxious.

some over eat, some just take their problems out on others, some smoke or drink, some take medications etc. there are a number of ways of coping. We chose alcohol, and I keep seeing more and more people of all ages and places doing the same thing.