Shallow to say drinking is a disease

IN THE hit film A Star Is Born, Ally (Lady Gaga) goes to visit the disgraced Jack (Bradley Cooper, pictured together in the film) after he has been in rehab for two months in a bid to cure his alcohol addiction. ‘It’s OK. It’s not your fault. It is a disease,’ she tells him in a moving scene. However, that is simply not true. In fact, it is indeed shallow. Claiming that addiction is a disease is not only scientifically baseless, it hinders rather than helps many addicts because it undermines hope. It makes them believe they do not have agency over their condition, that they are helpless in the face of a greater force. Whereas they are the only ones who can help themselves.