Wow. Thanks Bri.

I feel a little bad for putting Ms. Winehouse in the Death Pool thread. She definitely had a disease, and it killed her.

I can't tell if you're pulling my leg here or not.

I'll chose to believe that you are being sincere :)

I need a break. I have become increasingly more liberal in my views in my old age (I'm never doing what I'm supposed to be doing!) and I will admit to being a bit sickened by the hate-mongers (MERC) around here and the pass he continues to get from people that I admire. It's ....unsettling.

I'll be around - I learn so much here - but I'm going to go off and find some bliss. I can't read the hate anymore. It's so...unnecessary and so destructive.

This isn't a huff and a flouncing off. I just needed to say that because I don't know who is who anymore. And the fucking petty meannes...hurts my heart.

I don''t believe UT was pulling your leg. And thanks for sharing that story, I probably would not have come across it otherwise.

I was not.

Addiction is a terrible thing and we need to figure out how to save people like Ms Winehouse.

I think of substance use as self-prescribed medication for any of a range of un- or under-addressed root problems: depression, mental illness, social anxiety, trauma, etc. Substance use turns to substance abuse when it becomes destructive, debilitating, or self-perpetuating (drinking to cope with the consequences of drinking.) You can call that a disease if you need to, but I think that in America we tend to treat symptoms rather than causes. i.e., ibuprofen as a reflex instead of asking what caused the headache.

In the case of Terry McGovern, I suppose you can make a strong argument that sometimes you need the throbbing to stop before you can talk about why you have a headache. But I read her story more as a tragedy of abuse and subsequent self-destructive depression, not strictly one of alcohol. Calling it a disease or an allergy, to my eyes, clouds the issue.

I haven't read this in a few years, and probably by now my feeling on addictions has shifted slightly. But I really, really enjoyed reading Stanton Peele's The Diseasing of America a few years ago. He has a few chapters up free on his website. I recommend #6, 'What is addiction and how do people get it?'

He's often fairly aggressively anti-AA. I'm not sure I agree entirely. It works for some people, but our national reliance (and widespread belief that it's the only solution) seems unhealthy. I jived a lot with how AA is portrayed in David Wallace's Infinite Jest -- necessarily flawed yet somehow brilliantly organic. Infinite Jest being another great book for anyone interested in a wide-ranging, slightly rambling study of addiction.

Dr. Drew convinced me that it's a disease. He points out that it's inherited, for example: it's a biological condition that not everybody has.

Asians are notably not alcoholics, not because their cultures avoid it, but because their bodies actually process alcohol differently.

Late last week my sister-in-law lost her father to alcoholism. A loving family. A well-enough-to-do family. Grandchildren. Friends. Nothing was enough for him to stop drinking. He moved away so as not to cause any more strife in their lives. We all loved him. We had to let him go.

I like the last line of Brianna's post about Terry McGovern. Sometimes the disease is so insidious, and sometimes people cannot conquer it. Can that monster be tamed? Not every time.

My brother has been sober going on 15 years. I am so happy he is around, in our lives. There but for the grace of God goes he.

I was saddened to hear about another young death. Being a celebrity and having a certain "schtick" does not mean inviting the disease in, does not mean welcoming it, does not mean wanting it.

My prayers to anyone affected by alcoholism, those fighting it, those who have succumbed, those who watch their loved one...helpless in helping.

:(

Regardless of her being famous, it is a tragic loss because she was so young and very vunerable poor girl RIP (never speak ill of the dead, they are unable to defend themselves)

I am absolutely certain that if I hit the lottery, I would eat, drink, and drug myself to death in less than a year.

A chance is given, but will it be taken?

I think she was marginally talented, not terribly original, her greatest accolades from her fans (at least the ones I've met) are that she "sounded black." Ooooo Kaaay. Imagine how much more awesome she would have been if she'd rubbed burnt cork on her face?

I think she belongs more in the pantheon of self destructive stars that sell magazines and newspapers like Michael Jackson, Charlie Sheen (remember him?) and the like.

This is the part (of every story like this) that always gets me. The monster was tamed, completely controlled, out of the picture... yet never dead. Somehow it got out again. It's why they always tell people that no matter how long they've been sober, they are never "not an alcoholic anymore." They are always, always a "recovering alcoholic."

I'm trying to think of the comedian who was marginally talented. I'd equate her to him if I could think of his name.

Dana's vids were nice, but just not my style.