Mental Illness or Alcoholism
What do you think about Alcoholics... does it surround Mental Illness or is it just about Alcoholism in itself? Does Mental Illness cause Alcoholism or does Alcoholism cause Mental Illness?
How about Alcoholism is a mental illness? Alcoholism, in my mind, is the brain's inability to allow the body to continue to function properly without the ingestion of alcohol. Of course, the body would be better off without alcohol, but the brain is mightier than the body, and can cause the body to think it needs something that it doesn't. In that regard, Alcoholism becomes a mental illness.
In my opinion:
I would have to disagree that it is a mental illness. I believe it is a physical illness. It is baffling. The only possible recovery plan that I know that works is AA. I've been going to meetings the last few months and I'm in my fourth month of recovery. The strange thing is to recover from this physical illness you must have spiritual wellness. AA is all about asking God to help you and having God in your life. There are people in the meetings who were in prison and did some terrible things, but after 4 or 5 years of recovery they are the most honest and God fearing people I have ever met. I'm not aware of belief in the Lord having the same effect on psychopaths or other serious mental illness. I'm sure there must be cases but not the millions that recover from alcoholism. Mental illness is a loaded word with a wide spectrum of illnesses. Is depression a mental illness or is it caused by low serotonin levels? Anyway, we alcoholics all share common character defects but we can turn our lives around with the help of our higher power and the 12 steps.