Addiction Is a Choice by Jeffrey Schaler

Author:Jeffrey Schaler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Court
Published: 2011-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

Here we see some of the illogical devices of cult persuasion at work. Aside from the blatant untruths that alcoholism always “follows a course which we can describe in advance,” always “gets worse” unless “brought into remission,” and is always fatal “if untreated” (implying the further falsehood that “treatment” for “alcoholism” is effective), it does not at all follow that something is an illness simply because it is predictable, nor because it is progressive, nor because it is fatal if untreated. Not wanting to stop drinking is a sign of an iron will, not a weak will. The counselor contradicts herself by saying both that the client doesn’t have a choice regarding his drinking and that the client chooses the bottle over his family.

Diarrhea is a physical sign of a physical illness. Drinking is purposeful behavior. If you have diarrhea, you are not then required to perform a co-ordinated series of conscious and deliberate goal-directed actions to keep the diarrhea going, whereas this is precisely what you have to do to keep on drinking alcoholic beverages. This psychotherapist is unwilling to acknowledge the dramatic difference between diarrhea and drinking. A sacred dogma is substituted for the recognition of mundane reality, and the preaching of this dogma masquerades as treatment for the family’s alleged ‘psycho-pathology’, a projection of the therapist’s.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.