Addiction Is a Disease: Counselors Explain the Reality of Recovery

Um, and it's funny, 'cause when I get into sobriety and they say, "Hey, um, you know, you've been homeless this whole time," and I'm like, "No, I slept on my friend's couch for six months." [laughs]

Yeah.

"What are you talking about?" Um, and that's how my life had been since I was 18 years old.

I never had anything to account for nothing, so everybody could see that I had a problem other than me.

Yeah.

I- isn't that amazing that everyone is looking at us and they see what we don't see? To me, that's that spiritual part, 'cause I felt like I was blind.

It, it was almost like I was outside of myself, watching myself destroy my life, but I was powerless to kinda do anything about it.

And then to be honest with you, I didn't wanna do anything about it because I didn't know what life could look like without-

Mm-hmm

... alcohol, right? I, I just, I didn't.

So you said something, though, that I want both of you guys to talk a little bit about, is that it is a disease.

And when I say that to people, they kinda recoil.

I'm like, "It's like cancer, like diabet- like a disease." So talk about that.

So it's, uh ...

Hmm.

So the disease, uh, component is, is, it's threefold, uh, as described in the, in the, in the big book of, uh, big book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Uh, uh, mental, spiritual, physical.

The physical part is an allergy, and it's just like an allergy to anything.

If you're allergic to peanuts and you, you eat peanuts and you get anaphylaxis, your throat swelling, and uh, y- you know, that, that allergy, that's your allergic response to eating peanuts.

Mm.

So you can go 10 years without eating peanuts and, and say, "You know what? It's been 10 years since I ate one.

It sh- I should be good to eat one now."

Yeah.

And you eat one, your throat's gonna swell up.

Yeah.

Um, and it's funny, 'cause when I get into sobriety and they say, "Hey, um, you know, you've been homeless this whole time," and I'm like, "No, I slept on my friend's couch for six months." [laughs]

Yeah.

"What are you talking about?" Um, and that's how my life had been since I was 18 years old.

I never had anything to account for nothing, so everybody could see that I had a problem other than me.

Yeah.

I- isn't that amazing that everyone is looking at us and they see what we don't see? To me, that's that spiritual part, 'cause I felt like I was blind.

It, it was almost like I was outside of myself, watching myself destroy my life, but I was powerless to kinda do anything about it.

And then to be honest with you, I didn't wanna do anything about it because I didn't know what life could look like without-

Mm-hmm

... alcohol, right? I, I just, I didn't.

So you said something, though, that I want both of you guys to talk a little bit about, is that it is a disease.

And when I say that to people, they kinda recoil.

I'm like, "It's like cancer, like diabet- like a disease." So talk about that.

So it's, uh ...

Hmm.

So the disease, uh, component is, is, it's threefold, uh, as described in the, in the, in the big book of, uh, big book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Uh, uh, mental, spiritual, physical.

The physical part is an allergy, and it's just like an allergy to anything.

If you're allergic to peanuts and you, you eat peanuts and you get anaphylaxis, your throat swelling, and uh, y- you know, that, that allergy, that's your allergic response to eating peanuts.

Mm.

So you can go 10 years without eating peanuts and, and say, "You know what? It's been 10 years since I ate one.

It sh- I should be good to eat one now."

Yeah.

And you eat one, your throat's gonna swell up.

Yeah.