Addiction is a disease?

[phactor]

i really have no idea. i feel the current treatment approach is not working - having gone through rehab currently.

Keep trying, it took me a few times to find the right fit. It took a fundamental shift in my thinking though. Basically I went from "doing everything I can to get high" to "doing everything I can to stay clean". This includes going to meetings, getting a sponsor, being honest with myself and willing to do what others suggest. I obviously can not quit on my own. I have tried for YEARS.

Both sides of my family are full of addicts and alcoholics. The thing I like about the last treatment center I went through was that they taught you all of the science behind it. It was a program based for professionals, so they knew we were all educated at least on the college level. The place was unbelievable and I am still involved with the program. They respected me as a person, not just a number. They gave me the ability to create my recovery and adjust it to fit me.

But if you think that you are going to go back out and use manageable, then statistically your very likely to land back in rehab. I just cannot use drugs responsibly. I have used irresponsibly for about half of my life, time to stop. It sucks sometimes, but other times I don't really care because life is better when not in a half stupor all the time and the only way to get that is by not using.

 

[phactor]

/
When people call me an addict it almost feels like a release, like "wow, I knew something had to be wrong with me", but maybe, just maybe thats why I'm an addict.

I've had the same experience.

I also remember trying to joke saying "I'm such an alcoholic" or "I'm such a junkie" people who used to party with me would say "yeah you are" (not in a joking way). That shit struck deeper then almost anything, especially when I was trying to rationalize my use.

 

[DexysMidnightRuner]

And our we catching it right now? Am I catching it just by believing what Dexy wrote?
Because I'll be honest what he wrote is me to a t, but I fear I'm like that because years and years
ago someone like dexy had came along, said the same thing he did now..

well first off im a girl haha. thats cool though. but idk if its really "brainwashing" yourself into thinking that. that is just what i have seen via me and my friends. as an addict i overdo EVERYTHING. and "normal" people tend not to do that.

i agree its strange that we are addicted to drugs, but there are ALOT of addictions out there. food, video games, exercise. its just that drugs are socially wrong, so it seems like a bigger problem. i do agree that we are addicted to the highs and lows of it.

thats all just my opinion..

 

[KamMoye]

where as i cant stand not having something. if i cant get what i originally wanted after many extraneous efforts, then i go for something else. and doing a good thing once is NEVER in my vocabulary. its more like do it till its dead, and then make sure by doing it some more. i just over do everything. whether i really want to or not. i just cant say no like other people can. or im not satisfied with just weed after a while. i HAVE to have that better thing, the more "bang for your buck".

i wish i could just be satisfied by smoking weed and be one of the normal people who can just smoke or just drink..but i dont think it will ever happen because something in my brain is just off..or not right. ya know what i mean? that sliiight thing.

well thats how i used to be, before i went to rehab. now im hoping things got bad enough that i can keep it manageable..but who knows, that slight off thing might kick in, and i might just end up going back.

i know exactly what you mean!

every now and then i'll go through sober periods where i find healthy outlets for my drug cravings and am quite the productive human being. but then i just get tired of it. it's like i want to have this mess to clean up, this withdrawal to go through, and yes, the high of it all, in order to feel centered.

my solution? fuck the shame, admit drugs are always gonna be a part of my life and dabble as responsibly as u can.

a lot of times i fantasize about just straight up abusing, going on long binges of my DOC just to see what it's like, even knowing it's not going to lead to some profound understanding. i don't do that anymore, though, because i fear once i lower my standard i will repeatedly sink to those depths. it's almost like i live in fear of being an addict. can't imagine what IV users go through =/

 

[Jabberwocky]

Disease to mean what to whom? Regarding certain sorts of addictive substances all humans exposed to that drug for long enough will experience tolerance with continued use and withdrawal upon discontinuation. If there are exceptions they are wild metabolic anomalies that deserve study.

So all humans can be addicts. So the disease would have to be an inclination. Is it all the time, same severity day in day out? It wanes and waxes, doesn't it. So it is a disease to which all humans have some vulnerability, some greater than others. It is of a relapsing, remitting character rather than static.

I accept it can be life destroying and misery inducing. That is at least half way to making it as a disease right there. I'm just not sure that identifying with a disease is always useful. It is a personal call obviously. This image that recreational drugs are 100% bad for some people but not problematic for another group seems absurd to me. Addiction is a part of human nature . A drive to pleasure and intoxication and a need to balance that drive with other values is very human.

Sweating is not a disease. Everyone sweats. At some point sweating can be life interfering and gets called hyperhydrosis. If it is uncomfortable, diminishes functioning, or is bothersome, disease is as good a word as any. My problem with some uses of the disease model of addiction is that it has an addict/non-addict dichotomy. It would be incorrect and silly to describe people without hyperhydrosis as non-sweaters. Also someone may seek help for a level of sweating too much that is less than someone who wants no help. It doesn't mean someone is in denial it means I don't want treatment thank you very much. The person who wants help with sweating isn't illegitimate because other people sweat more without calling it a problem.

The other problem is that I think there are many causes and types of addiction. Like several other pathological entities I think addiction is way over simplified. Naltrexone, acamprosate, methadone, suboxone, NA, AA, CA, cognitive therapy, etc are all going to be near perfect solutions for someone at a given time, sometimes for a long time. I'd like to see more substantive means of telling what is driving an individuals addiction problems and treatments more objectively customized to individual needs but I don't see that coming any time soon. The disease model of addiction is rather unperfected at present, but likely the best thing going.

 

[DexysMidnightRuner]

because i fear once i lower my standard i will repeatedly sink to those depths. it's almost like i live in fear of being an addict. can't imagine what IV users go through =/

haha yeah been there. i had alot of guilt about not being productive and just doing alot of drugs and letting it get to IV, but then i just decided to let go of that guilt and i went to a new depth of low. i just gave into my addiction, and it took me down. i decided enough was enough when i almost got arrested.

but like i said, i plan on going back to drugs, and that "slightly off" thing might kick in. im hoping me desire to be productive will let me get by without completely fucking up. i hope to outweigh my guilt with the fact that i am successful. instead of just let go of the guilt and go all in again.

i really wish i could be normal. im jealous my friends can have one night of fun and continue on with life, where as i just get stuck on how great that drug is and beat it till its dead and then some. thats why i think there is "something slightly off" about us.

 

[cosmicranch]

My "addiction specialist" told me once that addiction is today where breast cancer was when he started practicing medicine. There is not enough research, fundings, options for addicts. Addiction is a disease whether mental or medical, the sooner this is universally accepted, the jails will become less crowded and there will be more options for people who really want to get better but cannot find a treatment that works for them. I find it crazy that "Susan B. Komen foundation" can raise millions for cancer research but addiction, with huge names like Michael Jackson behind it, only gets pennies in comparison.

 

[oliphill]

Yes it is an illness. There is a strong history of it in my family, I truly believe it is genetic.

Also, what do people make of this.... I have heard that taking LSD can bring out underlying mental illnesses in people. Well everytime I took lsd, I used to go a bit mad, being like "I need... I need..." I would prepare for trips making sure i had a selection of things ready for my trip like k, weed, etc. becasue i knew I would "need" it. It is very hard to explain, but I can massively recognise that addiction, obsession, whatever, was at an extreme heighened level whenever i took lsd and maybe it had a permanent effect on me..

just throwing it out there, have been thinking about it recently.



And yeah if any human took a drug long enough they would become addicted yes. but you would have to ask why someone would be taking this drug regularly anyway? OK if it was pain management for example. Yes they mcay become dependant. The way you could tell if someone had the illness of addiction or not would be how well they were at managing their script. A 'normal' person would just take as directed.

It's a touchy subject. But I know for certain that I have the illness of addiction. I can feel it, if I look back through my life I just know.

 

[Jabberwocky]

^The psychiatric literature in the eighties was near unanimous that LSD could not cause mental illness but could activate latent psychosis. Since then the opinion has changed and many psychiatrist do believe LSD can be primarily causal in mental illness. It is actual a complicated issue.

I do believe bad trips especially in hostile environments can cause PTSD and other problems but do think a lot of people who go off the deep end from a single trip were already heading into psychosis and the trip just got them there faster. HPPD is definitely caused by LSD. Tripping all the time does kind of wear things out and can cause all sorts of problems.