The debate over whether alcoholism is curable stems from another debate. To be curable, it needs to be considered a sickness or a disease. Otherwise, as those who contend it is not a disease proclaim, anyone, alcoholic or not, should be able to just stop drinking.
Well, if you’ve heard the stories told by many confirmed alcoholics, you’ll appreciate how many attempts they made to just stop. Every time they failed. To believe that alcoholism is not curable would be to condemn millions of people to lives full of hopeless misery.
Fortunately, for those same millions of people, there is hope. A cure for alcoholism may never come in pill form or be a shot you can take every morning. However, as a disease, there is hope for a cure for alcoholism. Here’s what makes it curable and how you get that cure.
What Makes it Curable?
The first idea that needs to be accepted is the suggestion that alcoholism is a disease. With little reservation, the medical community has labeled it as such for nearly a century. Simply by falling into the category of disease makes alcoholism potentially curable.
Once accurately labeled a disease, the next point to consider is the evidence of a cure. In this sense, alcoholism has a few unique characteristics. Recovering alcoholics joke that it is the disease that tries to convince you that you do not have it.
It also has an obvious physical effect on the human body. What makes alcoholism curable is the belief that it is a disease. As with most diseases, there is a treatment. Here’s how it works.
How Can Alcoholism Be Cured?
By accepting the notion that alcoholism truly is a disease, this opens up the possibility of a cure. However, the cure for alcoholism seems to be different from many illnesses properly labeled diseases.
For one thing, there isn’t really a pill to stop the cunning and baffling urges that an alcoholic experiences. Further adding to the perplexity of the disease is the idea that one drink is too many, but never enough.
Alcoholism is a disease that centers in the mind of the alcoholic. As medical professionals dig deeper into the biological traits of confirmed alcoholics, a surgical or pharmaceutical cure continues to elude them.
As a disease, alcoholism has a cure. However, it requires a lifetime of treatments. Don’t worry, these treatments aren’t painful, and they really don’t cost any money. All an alcoholic needs to do is wake every day and follow a series of simple suggestions.
An important principle about alcoholism is to remember that curing it as a disease requires action. We must treat the underlying symptoms of the disease. If we maintain a commitment to do what is necessary to treat our condition, we essentially are cured.
Treating alcohol as a disease has long been an accepted way to stop a compulsive behavior that destroys lives. Number one is to appreciate that we cannot pick up a drink. Not even one. The malady doesn’t magically disappear over time.
Alcoholism is like a fitness freak who does 500 pushups every day. It doesn’t matter how long we abstain from a drink. The moment we try to fool ourselves into believing that we are somehow suddenly immune to alcoholism, we are in trouble.
Alcoholics who relapse insist that they returned to the same intensity level of drinking almost immediately upon taking that first drink. Alcoholism is a disease of the mind and body. The body will naturally cure itself after the alcohol is removed.
It takes time and treatment to address the symptoms that are the root cause of all your troubles. By opening your mind to suggestions from people who live sober lives on a daily basis, you will be on your way towards an exciting journey in recovery.
The simple cure for alcoholism is abstinence. For someone who struggles from one day to the next not to pick up the bottle, that may sound like an impossibility. It is not. The first step is to understand that you are a sick person who needs to get well, not a bad person.
Once you stop punishing yourself because of your inability to stay sober, you’ll realize it takes help. Help is available. All you need to do is pick up the phone and ask. There will be challenges in sobriety, but it can never begin until you start. There is a happy and joyful life in recovery. Why not start your journey today? Call us at 833-762-3764.