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Is drug and alcohol addiction just a bad habit? Or is it a disease?
Sickness ,disease ,addiction recovery all can be life threatening, it takes time to heal (with addiction, it takes the rest of your life) and it takes work and we need to give and receive help to make it work.
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@heyjoe415 your sobriety gives me strength.
Thank you.
Joseph
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2 ReactionsIt is a disease.
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2 ReactionsThank you to everyone that's interacted with this discussion.I appreciate getting to know you better and being a little bit involved in your lives and recovery. And being able to share some of my\nFears and goals. Make every day of your life be the best that it can be.
Joseph
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1 ReactionHello @eaglenest
As it has been a few months since you last posted, I was wondering how you are doing. Will you post an update when it's convenient?
@jmax44 Agreed.
I joined AA in 2003 at age 48. I'm 71 now and sober for 15 years and counting. (I relapsed after the first 4.5 years and made it back, with great difficulty, years later. My advice - don't relapse - nothing has changed.)
After much thought, I think "disease" is the best way to describe addiction. "Condition" is accurate but doesn't have teeth.
It is a serious problem for many. And many die from it. Many innocents are killed by it.
It is especially hard for parents with teenagers. What is just youthful curiosity and fun-seeking versus addiction? Two things for parents to keep in mind - 1) addiction/alcoholism is inherited. Watch your kids a bot closer if the disease is in your family and 2) let your kids have fun while they're young, but mainatain a watchful eye.
Recreational drugs are always evolving, think fentanyl and ecstasy - so let your kids have fun, but stay close and make sure they know not to operate a car after drinking/using or to be in a car driven by someone who has been drinking/using. Don't be judgmental. Let them know that no questions will be asked if they call needing a ride, at any time.
Do be firm. Addict or not, these are serious and avoidable situations.
Joe
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2 ReactionsIt does not matter how you got it or what you label it You have its
The treatment is the same,
Abstinence, and a 12 step program
This is what i was told july27, 1983 at Hazelden
I have been sober and happy about it since then
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1 ReactionAA touts the disease paradigm but I don't agree with this. It takes the onus off a bad habit and the person can shrug it off and say, "well, I can't help it, I have a disease." This is why I don't agree with the disease excuse. For me it was a moral failing. Many people in AA don't want to hear that it's a moral failing but it does come under the umbrella of "gluttony". It could also fit the moral failing of self-harm. One moral failing begets another. We don't drink for no reason. Drinking is a symptom of something inside of us. For me it covered up my shame and guilt over other moral failings.
I do believe that there are genetic and environmental factors which are associated with alcoholism. But I don't believe it's a disease like cancer or lupus or anemia, that you're not responsible for.