Hi, need to submit a 2000 words essay on the topic Alcoholism Master.Download file to see previous pages... AA occupies an important place in any theoretical discussion of alcoholism because it serves

Hi, need to submit a 2000 words essay on the topic Alcoholism Master.

AA occupies an important place in any theoretical discussion of alcoholism because it serves as the rallying point for the concept that alcoholics carry a disease that needs medical treatment. It has been so effective in spreading this idea that a similar institution has been duplicated for alcoholics in many parts of the world. Another name that invariably comes up once the disease concept of alcoholism is mentioned is that of E. Jellinek who in 1946 published a study that has become the gospel of AA. The Jellinek study sets forth four propositions that uphold alcoholism as a disease: 1) heavy drinkers show the pattern of ever greater alcohol use leading to ever greater body, mental and social deterioration. 2) once this condition appears, it persists involuntarily. 3) medical expertise is needed to understand and relieve this condition. and 4) alcoholics, like epileptics, are not legally and morally responsible for their drinking and its consequences (Keller, M. &amp. Doria, J., 1991). In this view, alcoholics cannot control drinking and require medical treatment because they exhibit the same symptoms of a regular disease: tolerance and withdrawal distress and loss of control or inability to abstain until alcoholics hit bottom as derelicts, turn insane or die.

In support of the theory pushed by AA, behavioral and social scientists have come forward one after another, with the first endorsement offered by the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1957. This was followed in quick succession in the 1970s by the American Psychiatric Association, American Hospital Association, American Public Health Association, National Association of Social Workers, World Health Organization (WHO) and the American College of Physicians, which all listed alcoholism as a disease. A new kind of disease called "alcohol dependence syndrome" then entered the medical lexicon. As such, the updated definition set forth by the American Society of Addiction and National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence is: "a primary chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal, characterized by impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with alcohol as drug, and use of alcohol despite denial. Each of these symptoms may be continuous or periodic."

But in 1989, Stanton Peele raised his fists against AA and the above-named medical groups for supposedly fostering the myth of alcoholism for their own selfish interests. Peele argued that alcoholism is not a life-threatening occurrence since most drinkers can overcome the addiction on their own. He backed his argument with surveys showing that the general public objects to the disease concept and that even among doctors, the sentiment is not unanimous.