Posted by SLS on November 5, 2005, at 8:43:04
In reply to Re: This was a rhetorical question everyone » ClearSkies, posted by alexandra_k on November 4, 2005, at 19:10:13
Hi.
> the notion of 'disease' has been broadened significantly in order for mental illnesses to count as diseases. a lot of people fight and resist the 'disease' conception of (most but not all) mental illnesses. because they believe it is too much of a stretch, too much of an abuse of the concept of disease.
Do you think it has been too much of a stretch?
Does it depend on the mental illness?
Disease:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=disease
Guess what? According to this dictionary definition, both mental illness and addiction would qualify as disease. I think this definition serves as an interesting guideline to further this discussion.
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DISEASE:1. A pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.
2. A condition or tendency, as of society, regarded as abnormal and harmful.
3. An impairment of the normal state of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions and is a response to environmental factors (as malnutrition, industrial hazards, or climate), to specific infective agents (as worms, bacteria, or viruses), to inherent defects of the organism (as genetic anomalies), or to combinations of these factors.
4. An impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning
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Interesting.One example:
Q: Why is the rate of alcoholism so high in native american populations?
A: Genetics. Chromosomes 4 and 12 coding for alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase respectively.
Now what do we say?
I have seen people who have invested over twenty years of sobriety sacrafice it all for the taking of a single drink. That one drink, often taken recreationally as opposed to as an attempt to self-medicate, led to benders and the destruction of the life they worked so hard to build. What do you think is going on here?
Has this sort of thing ever happened to you?
It is a horrific thing to witness.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:575263
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20050914/msgs/575601.html