15+ years sober here, mostly through some recovery programs and a lot of AA.
Neither the "disease" model (which has connotations of communicability) nor the AA "allergy" model (there's something wrong with my body) make total sense. Rather than try to fit other terms into a procrustean bed, I just call it addiction. Everyone is different, but there are a lot of commonalities.
Given the amount of denial that is present in most cases of addiction, trying to fit it into other categories can make more room for rationalization and avoidance. "I clearly don't have a disease, I never caught it from anyone," someone might say, or "It's not an allergy, I don't break out in hives." And delay treatment that much longer.
I'm a firm believer in getting whatever help works for you. If that's Rational Recovery, great. If that means an AA meeting every day, great. Just get help. Get it earlier than you think you need it. Tell your boss (s/he probably knows something is up anyway, just not what). Drop in on a meeting [yeah, AA, I know]. Tell a friend. Tell your doctor. Make a call and get into treatment. Do something, because until you do that, nothing is going to change.
16 years ago I was without a job and essentially unemployable, on the verge of being homeless, drinking 750ml+ of hard liquor a day, and this close to offing myself to end the misery. Today I'm married, doing really, really well financially, am bringing up a kid, and have a 6100+ karma score on my non-throwaway HN account. Life is good :-)
Congrats on the sobriety. 11 years myself here on my non-throwaway account (don't hire me, then, we'll both be better off).
As for the disease model, and as a partial response to the comment sibling, it is my understanding that the disease model was cooked up specifically to address the "weak willed" label slapped on those that drink too much. If that's true, and I don't have a reliable source to back that up, it would fit well with AA's overall program. IOW, like other diseases, you don't have control over it (if you did, you'd quit), and it is not reflective of a base character flaw, etc.
I dunno, I don't get too hung up on it myself. As you said, get whatever help that fits your model of the world, but get help. I don't even buy into a lot of what AA touts, but simply sitting in a room with a bunch of other folks with similar struggles was a lot of what I needed. (Granted, for a lot of AA meetings "similar struggles" means "the court says I need this piece of paper signed".)
Good for you, random internet person, good for you.
Do you think the disease model implies more some kind of genetic/environmental slant, as opposed to a 'weak character'. I think what the disease model is putting forward is that something outside of your control led to your addiction rather than something you're supposedly meant to have control over, that is to say your decisions and will.
Thanks for posting this.
edit: And I just remembered, the clinical/medical label used is actually "illness", not disease...
Illness, they say, refers to the patient's experience of the disease. A person with a disease might not feel ill, and a person who experiences illness might not have a disease.
Neither the "disease" model (which has connotations of communicability) nor the AA "allergy" model (there's something wrong with my body) make total sense. Rather than try to fit other terms into a procrustean bed, I just call it addiction. Everyone is different, but there are a lot of commonalities.
Given the amount of denial that is present in most cases of addiction, trying to fit it into other categories can make more room for rationalization and avoidance. "I clearly don't have a disease, I never caught it from anyone," someone might say, or "It's not an allergy, I don't break out in hives." And delay treatment that much longer.
I'm a firm believer in getting whatever help works for you. If that's Rational Recovery, great. If that means an AA meeting every day, great. Just get help. Get it earlier than you think you need it. Tell your boss (s/he probably knows something is up anyway, just not what). Drop in on a meeting [yeah, AA, I know]. Tell a friend. Tell your doctor. Make a call and get into treatment. Do something, because until you do that, nothing is going to change.
16 years ago I was without a job and essentially unemployable, on the verge of being homeless, drinking 750ml+ of hard liquor a day, and this close to offing myself to end the misery. Today I'm married, doing really, really well financially, am bringing up a kid, and have a 6100+ karma score on my non-throwaway HN account. Life is good :-)