Essential Question Blog Post

Topic: Addiction 

A man drinking alcohol 

Essential Question: Is alcoholism a disease?

Claim: Alcoholism is a disease that requires medical treatment to be cured.

Reason (Physical Withdrawal): To have a healthy and successful recovery, an alcoholic must seek medical treatment to prevent dangerous and uncomfortable physical withdrawals. A withdrawal is when an individual becomes sober and experiences physical or emotional pain. A physical withdrawal is when one's body shuts down due to no longer having the substance of alcohol in the body, causing the body to go into shock, leaving the individual with cravings, fatigue, and pain. For a recovering alcohol, medical treatment is necessary. If one does not seek help after unhealthy drinking for a long period of time, the alcoholic may experience seizures, increased heart rate, the shakes, delirium tremens (DT's), anxiety, and fever. If an alcoholic does not seek help during one's recovery, they may die due to these withdrawal symptoms, which must be treated by a doctor. If a so called "addict" does not experience these symptoms, the individual was not abusing alcohol and does not need treatment because they are not addicted.