Medicalisation of Alcoholism
SC2211 Medical Sociology * * * * * * * Medicalization of Alcoholism: * Moral Issue or Disease of the Will? * * * * * Charmaine Tan Xin Yi * A0085302N * Discussion Group: E2 * Bachelor of Science (Nursing) * AY2012/2013 Semester 2 * 25th March 2013 * This paper focuses on the medicalisation of alcoholism. Through the critique of the medical discourse of alcoholism, the paper seeks to understand better the social process in which alcoholism has changed from a moral issue of drinking to a disease of the will. “ The will is at the root of human conduct. It is the basis of moral action. It is the foundation of wisdom. It is the controller of impulse. Without duty it cannot be done… It is the regulator of passion and desire. Without it in some strength no civilised, moral and permanent form of human society can exist. If it be true that this most authoriitative faculty of man is in any way lessened by alcohol, that substanc would seem to need no other condemnation.” (Sir Thomas Clouston, MD, 1914) * WHAT IS ALCOHOLISM? * Alcoholism is a general term used to decribe excessive and uncontrolled consumption alcoholic beverages, to the point that this consumption detrimentally affects personal relationships and health of the alcoholic. * In 1979, an expert panel of the World Health Organisation recommended alcoholism to be replaced with the term alcohol dependence syndrome to remove some of the stigma attached. According the text-revised version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fourth edition), alcohol dependence is diagnosed as: * “…maladaptive alcohol use with clinically significant impairment as manifested by at least three of the following within any one-year period: tolerance; withdrawal; taken in greater amounts or over longer time course than intended; desire or unsuccessful attempts to cut down or control use; great deal of time
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