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1995-07-16
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CHAPTER 1
ALCOHOLISM: WHAT IS IT?
The United States is a drinking society. [Abraham Hoffer
and Humphry Osmond, NEW HOPE FOR ALCOHOLICS (New York: University
Books, 1968), p. 243]. Somewhere, between the casual social
drinker and the drinker who is dying of ethyl alcohol poisoning,
alcoholism begins. Where on this continuum does alcoholism
begin?
Clinebell takes a psychological approach:
A person is an alcoholic if one or more of his major
adjustments in living--health, vocational, social, or
marital--is periodically or continuously hampered by
drinking. ...alcohol is a neurotic solution to
interpersonal problems, to the point at which the
solution itself becomes the chief problem. [Howard J.
Clinebell, UNDERSTANDING AND COUNSELING THE ALCOHOLIC
THROUGH RELIGION AND PSYCHOLOGY, (New York: Abingdon
Press, 1968), p. 40].
Clinebell views alcoholism as a sickness. He minimizes
biological factors as causative and emphasizes psychological
factors. He indirectly blames societal values for the
perpetuation of alcoholism. (Ibid., pp. 73-74).
The terms "psychological" and "biological" tend to polarize
thought and to confuse the issue. There are indications that
these two conceptions are misleading, and therefore constitute a
hinderance to understanding alcoholism. The brain is biological.
Clinebell has done a commendable work, but appears to be overly
influenced by "politically correct" psychology that does not
place enough responsibility on the "sick" individual.
Biochemist Roger Williams adds a biological component in
alcohol addiction:
There is, then, in my opinion, another reason why people may
drink alcohol aside from their liking it or for its effects
and aside from social pressure. This fourth reason is a
deranged physiological urge or craving. Their "body wisdom"
is impaired; it has turned into "body foolishness"; the body
demands are no longer a safe guide; the more its demands are
indulged the worse its condition becomes. This deranged
physiological urge is made more acute if an individual who
is subject to it takes even a small drink. This small
drink, probably by acting as a specific poison to a weakened
hypothalamus (a portion of the brain which is related to
appetites), pulls a physiological trigger in an alcoholic
which may lead to devastating results. .... Those who have
never had this specific craving for alcohol are unable to
understand the problem that an alcoholic has, just as those
who have never been morphine addicts cannot understand the
craving that dope addicts possess.
Of course alcohol is an unique substance, in that,
unlike most drugs, it can serve as a fuel for the body.
It is double-barreled in its activity; it serves as a
source of energy --like sugar--but at the same time it
(or substances to which it is transformed in the body)
acts as a poison to derange the appetite mechanisms of
the body, thereby destroying appetite for food and
introducing a perverted physiological craving for
alcohol. [Roger J. Williams, ALCOHOLISM: THE
NUTRITIONAL APPROACH, (Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1961), pp. 17-18].
Williams places his view in perspective,
We do not wish, however, to overemphasize biochemistry
and physiology to the exclusion of psychology. We are
convinced that people are not built in separate
compartments--anatomical, biochemical, psychological--
but that they are integrated in such a way that
alcoholism, for example, has its roots in every aspect
of an individual's make-up. (Ibid., p. vii).
The root cause of human problems, according to the
scriptures, is a broken relationship with God. Sin has separated
man from God. This primary broken relationship is further
experienced in bad interpersonal (social) relationships and bad
intrapersonal relationships. [Internal relationships between id,
ego and superego--See my work on the conscience in HOW TO RAISE
YOUR SELF-ESTEEM USING PROVEN BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES . (Garden
City, MO: Russell Communications, 1994)].
While working with drug users in Vietnam, it became apparent
these that young soldiers were primarily looking for love. One
needs to look beyond the apparent conditions of (1) boredom; (2)
a dysfunctional family (lack of STORGE, family love); (3) the
need to be accepted by peers (need for PHILEO, friendship); (4) a
bad romantic involvement (lack of EROS, romantic and sexual
love); to the lack of God and his love (AGAPE). Drugs, including
alcohol, are primarily a substitute for God. Clinebell concurs:
An understanding of any religious approach to
alcoholism must include the RECOGNITION THAT, FOR THE
ALCOHOLIC, RELIGION AND ALCOHOL OFTEN ARE FUNCTIONALLY
INTERCHANGEABLE. Just before committing suicide, a
seemingly "hopeless" alcoholic was asked by a
psychiatrist, "Who can help you?" To this the
alcoholic replied: "No person or institution. Only
what I do not now possess--a belief, a faith in
something outside myself, something stronger, more
overwhelming than my weakness--some form of spiritual
substitute that yet evades me." (Clinebell, op cit.,
p. 154).
Thank God we do not have to determine the culpability of the
alcoholic relative to drinking. However, he does share culpable
guilt with all mankind, in that "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23).
In conclusion, we say that the alcoholic suffers from a sickness
of the whole man superimposed on a basic sin problem:
There are social, psychological, and physiological
reasons why a man becomes an alcoholic, but there is
still one underlying cause. .... Alcoholism is a
sickness of the soul--a sin sickness, and it must be
considered such. (Dunn, op. cit., pp. 20-21).
END