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5 Things I Wish People Knew About Alcoholism

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1. It's a disease classified by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  The definition of disease is as follows: a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location* and is not simply a direct result of physical injury. *The location in this instance being the brain. 2. It can be considered an allergy.  Definitions of allergy : A) altered bodily reactivity (such as hypersensitivity) to an antigen in response to a first exposure. B) exaggerated or pathological immunological reaction to substances, situations, or physical states that are without comparable effect on the average individual. According to William D. Silkworth, M.D. a prominent physician who specialized in the treatment of alcoholism, the action of alcohol in alcoholics is the manifestation of an allergy; the phenomenon of craving that develops is limited to this class and never