Reddit reviews Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease
We found 2 Reddit comments about Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
University of California Press
This book will help you in all of your future conversations about booze. I read it for a class last semester (best class ever).
I didn't think you were attacking me, I was getting frustrated because you seemed to be just declaring something over and over despite not citing any evidence except you and your friends experiences. Honestly, and I'm really not saying this to be contrarian, I don't really believe in the notion of "addictive drugs". Reinforcing, yes. The distinction is not pedantic. Addiction is behavior.
I'd say that with the puritanical definition of "drug abuse" as it is commonly understood, most of the population are "drug abusers". Because obviously it's not "abuse" if you are following social convention or whatever a physician cosigns, right? I use the terms like everyone else because otherwise no one knows what I am talking about. I don't believe there is such a thing as an addictive drug. Activities/involvements for are addictive. In the United States, the most common addictions are dysfunctional, codependent love relationships, watching television, eating potato chips, consuming sugar, drinking alcohol, and smoking. No one calls anyone a godaholic or a moneyholic.
If you want some good perspectives on addiction:
https://www.brucekalexander.com
https://peele.net/
https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Drinking-Myth-Alcoholism-Disease/dp/0520067541
Also, I can only speak to my experience, but I have yet to find a good anxiolytic with zero reinforcing properties. The closest I've come is MAOIs, Parnate in particular, but even those can be abused and are dopaminergic. People say SSRIs work. Maybe they're right. I have yet to find someone who tried an MAOI who went back to an SSRI for anxiety, though I'm sure they're out there. A rule of thumb is that anything which produced an immediate effect that someone cares to repeat is habit forming. I am very skeptical that there is such a thing as a drug which induces a rapid, desirable change that someone wants that also could not be habit forming. I can't say it doesn't exist, but I'm not aware of any. Are you?