/sci/ - Science & Math

>>10327668
No idea -- all it does is make me cough like a mofo, and have trouble breathing. I suspect an allergy, but can't be arsed to find out, I just don't use it.

Thank you, based booze.

>>8252587

Yes and no. The affinity towards substance addiction has a heavy genetic component, but the dysfunction is almost entirely behavioral, meaning that completely abstaining is an aspect of willpower as long as the physical dependence is weaned.

Alcohol dependence is a physical addiction, and cold turkey withdrawal can straight-up kill you. But the idea that the behavioral "disease" of alcoholism physically compels a person against their will to pick up a bottle and drink is bullshit.

If someone is addicted, they need medical help to get off the stuff, so it that sense yes it needs to be treated as a disease. But outside of that, therapy is needed to aid in behavior readjustment, but should be performed as if the person has some form of agency, and not act like they've got booze demons inside them that need to be exorcised and it's not really their fault.

It's a tough act to balance, since on one hand you skate dangerously close to victim blaming and placing physical dependence symptoms onto their conscience, which you shouldn't do since that just feeds negative thought and behavioral patterns. But on the other hand, acting like they're at the complete mercy of their "disease" removes responsibility for their actions and absolves blame when/if they relapse, which feeds into the idea that they're permanently stuck in a behavioral situation that they can't escape from, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and revolving door rehab programs.

TL;DR: physical alcohol dependence is a disease, alcoholism/alcoholic behavior isn't.