Matthew Gannon
Psychology 1010
February, 12, 2013

Is Alcoholism a Disease?
A lot of experts argue if alcoholism is a disease, or not. It can make you very sick, doing all kinds of physical damage, leading to death in some cases. Many people would consider alcoholism a disease, which in reality is not true. Some experts say that addiction, in this case alcoholism, are a disease, but I feel as though it is a serious problem that can lead to disease. This debate can go on and on, but here are some reasons and facts to help the reader see why I believe alcoholism is not per say a disease.
Excessive drinking can cause physical disease and involve physical dependence without therefore being a disease itself. The "disease concept" of alcoholism is not needed to justify medical intervention or a caring approach to those who are dependent on alcohol. There is a specific and a general version of the disease concept of alcoholism. The specific disease concept, associated mainly with the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, is contradicted by empirical evidence and unhelpful for preventive and treatment responses to problem drinking, especially for the effort to detect and modify problem drinking at an early stage. The more general disease concept shares these disadvantages and is also ineffective in engendering sympathetic attitudes towards problem drinkers among the general public. It is more useful to view problem drinking as the result of the interaction between the individual's personality and the social context in