Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism As a Disease

Customer Reviews

This book is truth at its simplistic best. It is cumbersome to admit one's own culpability, and even harder for an alcoholic to admit that he is his own worst enemy. I know. I was one. After years of living in fear of the next drink, which surely would lead me to a single, inexorable destructive conclusion, works like Dr. Fingarette's "Heavy Drinking" had shown me that I was creating my own self-fulfilling prophecy, and that I indeed had the power to change, not just one day at a time, but forever.

Of course, this idea flies in the face of those who promote the disease concept of alcoholism. Naturally, the multi-billion dollar institution will not tell you that they have done nothing to help the addiction situation since the AMA self-servingly declared alcoholism to be an illness in 1956. They continue to tell the public that the alcohol problem continues to skyrocket.

The harshest attack on Dr. Fingarette's book is his assertion that alcoholics can learn to control their drinking. It has been proven time and again by several major studies since the 1960s. And yet, the disease camp, founded by the old unfounded addage "Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic" spends countless millions in government-funded dollars promoting the idea that this is impossible. They have to. If they admitted that it was possible, their very essence would be threatened, and the industry would collapse.

Bravo to Dr. Fingarette for having the guts to stand firm in the face of such pressure and present the truth. It is only by the presence of more secure individuals like the good doctor when a real answer can be offered to those who abuse alcohol and drugs. The keys to success are motivation, values, morality (yes, what's wrong with living a morally decent life?), and maturity. Life is worth living, and the same joy that was once found in a bottle can be found inside the joys of parenthood, work, and success.

All major and most authoritative medical resources, such as American Medical Association and American Society of Addiction Medicine define alcoholism as a disease which is independent of and uncontrollable by human will and effort.

To the contrary, many laywriters and self-proclaimed experts of the human psyche attempt to trash the minds of their readers with false, couterscientific and socially dangerous ideas, which have already put staggering numbers (exceeding one hundred thousand by some sources) of mental patients behind prison bars, making the USA a focus of critique and condemnation of many human right organizations, such as our very own, US (NYC)-based Amnesty International

BTW, I have read Mr. Fingarette's book thoroughly and could find not even a single truly scientific evidence supporting his populist, but badly amatorish philosophy.

Better get this outstanding, easy-to-read, yet written by professionals book on alcoholism: Beyond the Influence : Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism by Katherine Ketcham, et al., available on amazon.com

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