If depression and alcoholism are a disease are they the only two diseases you can be yelled at for having?

I think the main reason for the difference is that non-addicts can't relate to addicts. Non-addicts are able to stop at one or two drinks, so they ume that addicts lack willpower, i.e they are weak. As far as depression, some people who don't suffer from mental illness think that people who are depressed should just snap out of it. Depression is not as "tangible" a disease as most physical malodies. Diseases like cancer are thought to be able to strike anyone, so even those who don't have cancer tend to empathize with those who do. The exception to this might be someone who develops lung cancer after many years of smoking. Some people may look at the cancer as self-inflicted, and thus won't have much sympathy for them.