Spring Break
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: Forum
Response to Will Rogers
A "Real" Disease… Like Cancer.
I would like to reply to Mr. Rogers's statement that alcoholism is not a disease. By his argument any illness that begins with a voluntary act is not a disease. This logic discredits anorexia, bulimia, a wide array of mental health issues and - to some extent - lung cancer as legitimate diseases. After all, you chose to pick up that cigarette, right?
Just as some people are born with a genetic predisposition to different cancers, heredity can also influence vulnerability to alcoholism. Like other diseases, alcoholism has characteristic symptoms, is described in different stages, and is progressively degenerative if left untreated. Are these not the characteristics of disease? It is not accurate to characterize diseases only as things which cause physiological changes, with complete disregard to the psychological.
Amber Calkins
Senior, Biology
Response to Will Rogers
Disease or not a disease
In response to Will Rogers' letter disputing alcoholism not being a disease, I and the medical community disagree. That's like saying schizophrenia is not a disease. His belief was common 70 years ago and is dangerous if continued today. How many people die in alcohol related traffic accidents each year? Too many. Alcoholism is a disease, but it is a disease that is treatable. Mr. Rogers' contention that an alcoholic can simply choose to stop drinking is exactly what makes someone classified as alcoholic or not. If someone can choose to not drink, they are by definition, not an alcoholic. When someone strongly desires to not drink, but time after time, find they are not able to do the right thing and find themselves drinking, even though they wish they weren't - that person might consider being screened for having the disease of alcoholism. If treated, a miserable or shorted life can be avoided.
Jon Dowd
Employee
A "Real" Disease… Like Cancer.
I would like to reply to Mr. Rogers's statement that alcoholism is not a disease. By his argument any illness that begins with a voluntary act is not a disease. This logic discredits anorexia, bulimia, a wide array of mental health issues and - to some extent - lung cancer as legitimate diseases. After all, you chose to pick up that cigarette, right?
Just as some people are born with a genetic predisposition to different cancers, heredity can also influence vulnerability to alcoholism. Like other diseases, alcoholism has characteristic symptoms, is described in different stages, and is progressively degenerative if left untreated. Are these not the characteristics of disease? It is not accurate to characterize diseases only as things which cause physiological changes, with complete disregard to the psychological.
Amber Calkins
Senior, Biology
Response to Will Rogers
Disease or not a disease
In response to Will Rogers' letter disputing alcoholism not being a disease, I and the medical community disagree. That's like saying schizophrenia is not a disease. His belief was common 70 years ago and is dangerous if continued today. How many people die in alcohol related traffic accidents each year? Too many. Alcoholism is a disease, but it is a disease that is treatable. Mr. Rogers' contention that an alcoholic can simply choose to stop drinking is exactly what makes someone classified as alcoholic or not. If someone can choose to not drink, they are by definition, not an alcoholic. When someone strongly desires to not drink, but time after time, find they are not able to do the right thing and find themselves drinking, even though they wish they weren't - that person might consider being screened for having the disease of alcoholism. If treated, a miserable or shorted life can be avoided.
Jon Dowd
Employee
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