What Is An Alcoholic?

What Is A Drug Addict?

Looking for a common

denominator

World Health Organization

• "any use of alcoholic beverages that causes any damage to the individual or society or both." (Jellinek, 1960, p. 35)

AMA

• "...an illness, characterized by preoccupation with alcohol and loss of control over its consumption which usually leads to intoxication if drinking is begun; by chronicity; by progression; and by tendency toward relapse. It is typically associated with physical disability and impaired emotional, occupational, and/or social adjustments as a direct consequence of persistent and excessive use of alcohol." (American Medical Association, 1968, p. 6)

The Action of Alcohol

• "...includes three criteria all of which must be present for the person to be regarded as an alcoholic: (a) Large quantity of alcohol consumed over a period of years; (b) Abnormal, chronic loss of control over drinking, shown by inability to refrain or inability to stop; and (c) The drinking causes chronic damage to physical health or social standing." (Wallgren and Barry, 1970, pp. 716-717)

National Council on Alcoholism

• "Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive, and potentially fatal disease. It is characterized by tolerance and physical dependency or pathologic organ changes, or both - all the direct or indirect consequences of the alcohol ingested...The person with alcoholism cannot consistently predict on any drinking occasion the duration of the episode or the quantity that will be consumed." (National Council on Alcoholism, 1976, p. 764)

University of Maryland Professor

• "...any use (of alcohol) that interferes recurringly with the person's health, job, or society, including family." (Whitfield,

1976, p. 7)

WHO Successor

• "Includes a condition in which alcohol is consumed to the detriment of a person's health or social functioning over a period of time." (Edwards et. al., 1977, p.

41)

Under the Influence

• "a chronic, primary, hereditary disease which progresses from an early physiological susceptibility into an addiction characterized by tolerance changes, physiological dependence, and loss of control over drinking. Psychological symptoms are secondary to the physiological disease and not relevant to its onset." (Milam, 1981, p. 170)

Center for Alcohol Studies

• "a chronic disease, or a symptom of an underlying psychic or physical disorder, characterized by dependence on alcohol for relief from psychic or physical distress or for gratification from intoxication itself, and characterized by a consumption of alcoholic beverages sufficient and consistent enough to cause physical or mental or social or economic disability. The dependence is manifested by loss or impairment of control over drinking." (Keller, 1982, p. 20)

Harvard Research

• "Alcoholism becomes a disease when loss of voluntary control over alcohol consumption becomes a necessary and sufficient cause for much of an individual's social, psychological, and physical morbidity." (Vaillant, 1983, p. 44)

ASAM & NCADD• "Alcoholism is a primary, chronic disease with

genetic, psychosocial and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterized by continuous or periodic impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences and distortions in thinking, most notably denial." (American Society of Addiction Medicine and

the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.,

1990, p. 1.)

Pain Management

• “Addiction is a primary, chronic, neurobiologic

disease, with genetic, psychosocial, and

environmental factors…It is characterized by

behaviors that include one or more of the

following: impaired control over drug use,

compulsive use, continued use despite harm, and

craving (Savage, Joranson, & Covington, 2003, p.

662

The National Institute on Drug Abuse

Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences to the individual that is addicted and to those around them. Drug addiction is a brain disease because the abuse of drugs leads to changes in the structure and function of the brain. Although it is true that for most people the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary, over time the changes in the brain caused by repeated drug abuse can affect a person’s self control and ability to make sound decisions, and at the same time send intense impulses to take drugs. (NIDA website, 2008)

Mayo Clinic Staff

• Alcoholism is a chronic and often progressive disease that

includes problems controlling your drinking, being

preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even

when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the

same effect (physical dependence), or having withdrawal

symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking. If

you have alcoholism, you can't consistently predict how

much you'll drink, how long you'll drink, or what

consequences will occur from your drinking. (2014)

Alcoholics Anonymous never defines alcoholism. AA's First Step comes closest.

"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol; that our lives had become unmanageable." (Alcoholics

Anonymous, @ 1939, p. 59)

What Do Experts Agree Upon?• Type of Alcohol?

• Amount?

• Time of Day?

• Frequency?

• Number of Years?

• Age?

• Sex?

• Reason For Use?

• Personality?

• Family Upbringing?

• Physical Dependence?

• The Experts Agree

• Alcohol is Used.

Use Causes Problems.

• “Loss of Control” is

suggested, but…….

A Definition the experts might agree

upon is this:

Alcoholism or Drug Addiction

is Drinking or Drugging

which Causes Problems.

Add two adjectives:

Drinking or Drugging which Causes

Recurring and Serious

Life Problems.

So, It’s Not What You Drink,

Where, When, How

or Even Why You Drink.

It’s What Happens After

You Drink.

The Misconceptions

• Just skid row types

• Use hard drugs or drink the hard stuff

• All have blackouts

• Are morning drinkers

• Drink every day

• Are binge drinkers

• Get drunk every time they drink

• Are heavy drinkers

• Drink to get drunk; they desire drunkenness.

• Have an alcoholic personality

• Poor Parenting.

The Misconceptions

• Just skid row types

• Use hard drugs or drink the hard stuff

• All have blackouts

• Are morning drinkers

• Drink every day

• Are binge drinkers

• Get drunk every time they drink

• Are heavy drinkers

• Drink to get drunk; they desire drunkenness.

• Have an alcoholic personality

• Poor Parenting.

• An alcoholic is a drug addict.

• His drug of choice is alcohol.

• He may be 12 or 85.

• He comes in the basic human colors:

white, black, red, and yellow

(Asians protected & Native American prone)

• He is smart or not smart.

• He is big, little, fat or skinny

• He wears a white collar, blue collar or Roman Collar.

• He may be a member of the AMA, NBA, or PTA.

The Truth

He may even be a she,

and she may be a

Doctor

Lawyer

Truck Driver

Acrobat

Actress

Senator

Seamstress

Or perhaps even a

Housewife

Nun

Stripper

Fullback

Gymnast

Astronaut

Nurse

Short Stop

Or

First Lady

W. C. Fields, Actor William Faulkner, Author

Funny Serious

A Common “Addictive” Personality?

Cash Godunov(Hepatitis due to Alcoholism)

Van Dyke

Buzz Aldrin, “The Right Stuff”

Judy Garland, Entertainer (Barbiturate overdose)

Mickey Mantle, Baseball Player(Liver Cancer)

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Novelist(possible esophageal varix)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer

Ulysses S. Grant, General, 18th President

1869-1877

Billy Martin, Manager, New York Yankees 1983,

1985, 1988(Auto accident as Passenger)

Dylan Thomas, Poet(multiple causes complicated by alcohol)

John Barrymore, ActorDrew Barrymore, Daughter

& Child Star

Amy Winehouse, Singer (Alcohol Poisoning)

Ernest Hemingway, Author(Suicide)

Margaux Hemingway,

Actress & Granddaughter(Suicide)

Robin Williams, Actor & Comedian

Keith Urban, Country Singer

Demi Moore, Actress

Richard Lewis, Comedian

Betty Ford, First Lady

William Holden, Actor(Bled out due to accident from intoxication)

Stephen King, Author

Robert Downey, Jr., Actor

Janis Joplin, Singer(Overdosed on heroin and alcohol)

Bill Wilson, Stock Broker, Co-Founder of

Alcoholics Anonymous

Bob Smith, Physician & Co-Founder of

Alcoholics Anonymous

Edgar Allan Poe, Author(Found delirious on the streets of Baltimore)

Jason Robards, Actor

Isadora Duncan, Dancer (Scarf caught in wheel and pulled from car. Strangled or blunt force trauma.)

Edie Falco

Truman Capote, Author(Liver disease)

Chris Farley, Comic Actor (Overdose morphine and cocaine)

Joe McCarthy, Senator 1947-1957, Senate Permanent

Subcommittee on Investigations

(Acute hepatitis)

Richard Pryor, Comedian

Eugene O’Neill, Playwright(revised autopsy found cerebellar cortical atrophy)

Franklin Pierce, 14th President 1853-1857(Cirrhosis of the liver)

Ira Hayes, USMC

helped raise Flag on Iwo Jima

Native American(Died of Alcohol Poisoning & Exposure)

Jack Kerouac, Writer(Esophageal varix)

Anthony Hopkins, Actor

John Belushi, Comic Actor(Speedball Overdose)

Jimi Hendrix, Musician (Inhalation of vomit due to barbiturate intoxication)

Jim Thorpe, Multi-Sport Athlete

Native American

Lawrence Taylor, Linebacker

Richard Burton, Actor (Cerebral hemorrhage)

Jim Morrison, Rock Star(overdose - disputed)

Anna Nicole Smith(multiple prescription overdose)

Ray Charles, Singer-Songwriter

Lynda Carter

Eric Clapton, Musician and Songwriter

Elton John, Songwriter

Modest Mussorgsky, Composer

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar Winner(heroin overdose)

Fr. Joe Martin, Priest & Founder Ashley Treatment Center

Tom

Dick

Harry

Mary too

Some are obvious.(alcohol-related stomach hemorrhage)

Others Not

Jack Lemmon, Actor

What Is an Alcoholic?

Well, what is a Diabetic?

• A Diabetic is a Person Who has Diabetes.

• An Alcoholic Is a Person Who has Alcoholism.