Do You Believe Addiction is a Disease, Or... [POLL!]

[tokenname]

I think the constant desire to alter one's perception could very well be a disease. However, I think the act itself of going through with it is simply lack of self control and can not be attributed to the disease itself.

I think too often it's labeled as a disease and used as an excuse for one's actions. Personally, I feel it's wrong for people to tell themselves they have a disease in order to rationalize their behavior and addictions.

the constant desire to alter one's perception is the human condition.

i don't consider that desire the same as addiction.

i think it's wrong for ppl to tell themselves they're sick just to rationalize their behavior.
addiction like any other disease, imo, can be handled appropriately,,
whatever that means to the individual.
but i don't side with anyone who uses the word disease to excuse poor behavior.
how you choose to handle a situation = who you are imho.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Yes it is. Even according to most legal jurisdictions it is. Willpower is almost always useless against the onslaught.

People who don't think addiction is a disease by extension almost definitely think there is no such thing as mental illness, just people wanting to act weird.

I have almost complete empathy for most addicts.

 

[Grinders Kiefers]

Are non-drug addictions i.e. gambling, shopping, video games, etc. a disease since they are merely psychological?

 

[Tommyboy]

I would call it a disorder.

Disease.

I wrote a thesis paper on it & aced it.

And I'm sure that plenty of students have written thesis papers on addiction not being a disease and aced theirs as well.

 

[Renz Envy]

A lifestyle or commitment.

It's like you sign a contract upon first use.

 

[tokenname]

dis·ease
n.
1. A pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.
2. A condition or tendency, as of society, regarded as abnormal and harmful.

i dunno how abnormal it really is..but beyond that the definition fits, imo.

dis·or·der
n.
An ailment that affects the function of mind or body

ail·ment
n.
A physical or mental disorder, especially a mild illness.

when i think of addiction..i don't think mild.
maybe the problem is my thinking, tho.
we're all fucked up..w/e the reason.

fucked up
(slang, vulgar)
to have spoiled something; to have made a mess of

 

[trees_please]

No. mostly because it doesnt really fit with my idea of "disease." Disease is not something you choose. Brain cancer is a disease. MS is a disease. If I want to go through my entire life without drinking alcohol, I can do that. Or, if I want to drink my self to death, I will make that choice. but i firmly believe the disease theory is just another american-made excuse that absolves people of personal responsibility.
if i caught chlamydia, cured it, and continued with my life, would I be able to claim I am diseased in 20 years? No, because I was cured. And not some bullshit 12 step jesus saves crap.

 

[tokenname]

No. mostly because it doesnt really fit with my idea of "disease." Disease is not something you choose. Brain cancer is a disease. MS is a disease. If I want to go through my entire life without drinking alcohol, I can do that. Or, if I want to drink my self to death, I will make that choice. but i firmly believe the disease theory is just another american-made excuse that absolves people of personal responsibility.
if i caught chlamydia, cured it, and continued with my life, would I be able to claim I am diseased in 20 years? No, because I was cured. And not some bullshit 12 step jesus saves crap.

there's no cure for addiction.

there's just the choice to behave and think differently..
and to deny yourself what your mind is telling you
that you want/need..

^^IMO.

 

[DavidWhy]

I believe it can occur in different people for different reasons. I believe I had a genetic pre-disposition to becoming an alcoholic as nobody in my family drank but my father who I never met was an an alcoholic and heroin addict and I took to drugs and drink like a natural from a very young age. I was never the master of alcohol. I have managed to stop now though.

 

[RodJonse]

No, it is not a disease. It is usually a result of poor judgement from someone who did not use whatever the drug in particular is appropriately.

It can be a psychological disorder where one is prone to addiction, or has an "addictive personality". In no way is it a disease, though.

 

[DavidWhy]

No, it is not a disease. It is usually a result of poor judgement from someone who did not use whatever the drug in particular is appropriately.

If you are going to make the usr culpable, then where does that leave people who become addicts in childhood. If they are below the legal age to vote, drink, have sex, work etc they can't be expected to know the full consequences of their actions with regard to drugs.

 

[RodJonse]

If you are going to make the usr culpable, then where does that leave people who become addicts in childhood. If they are below the legal age to vote, drink, have sex, work etc they can't be expected to know the full consequences of their actions with regard to drugs.

Then in their particular case it is not their fault, hence the usage of the word "usually".

However, I still would not consider addiction nor physical dependence a disease.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Why do the only choices have to be "disease" or "deliberate choice/character flaw"? I don't really believe in either. The disease model is certainly better than the character flaw model, but it is imperfect and can be disempowering and damaging IMO, because people often use it to mean that addiction is an incurable genetic disorder that we are born with, (or that is caused solely by the drug), and that the only treatments are 12-step programs or being on maintenance drugs forever. I guess I would consider it a "disorder". I believe (and there is a lot of research to suport this) that addiction is caused by a combination of predisposition and environmental factors (things like having a stressed mother while in the womb, parenting/childhood, things that happen in life, all greatly shape the brain). It is not the addict's "fault" or "choice" any more than it is a soldier's fault that he/she gets post traumatic stress disorder. But I do believe that there are things we can do to heal from addiction and that others can do to help us.

No, it is not a disease. It is usually a result of poor judgement from someone who did not use whatever the drug in particular is appropriately.

So that would make most diseases not a disease by your definition. Heart disease or diabetes wouldn't be diseases because they are due to poor lifestyle choices.

 

[RodJonse]

So that would make most diseases not a disease by your definition. Heart disease or diabetes wouldn't be diseases because they are due to poor lifestyle choices.

You can also be prone to heart disease and diabetes genetically. They're also indirectly linked to these poor lifestyle choices. No one thing in particular causes them.

I don't believe addiction (not physical dependence, I make a huge distinction between the two) is a disease. You may inherit an addictive personality, but you cannot inherit alcoholism. You must first try alcohol, decide that you like it and make the decision to abuse it. Whether that decision was caused by impaired judgement from alcohol, the aforementioned addictive personality (which is why I agree it could be a disorder) or simply extreme boredom and an extreme liking of the drug is irrelevant, although it might decide whether it was your fault or not. There are the circumstances where someone forces someone else into an addiction, such as an addict from childhood, however that's still poor judgement, the only difference being that it was from whoever gave them the drug and not the user themself.

I still refuse to consider it a disease, no more than my addiction to food is a disease, or my addiction to playing video games is a disease (I do however consider physical dependence to be an illness). The people who refer to it as such, as far as I can tell, use it as a crutch. That's fine, but I don't need that crutch. My short lived addiction to opiates was not a disease, it was a stupid decision I made and I promptly corrected that stupid decision by removing the opiates from my life.

 

[lazydullard]

God has told me, while I was high on cough syrup, that addiction is a mental illness, that can strike at random whenever you do a drug.

You pedestrians need to get enlightened.

 

[6apbhmm]

I'm absolutely 100% convinced it is a disease. I have no idea to what extent it is genetic, to what extent it's caused by environment, but it is a kind of mental disease.
Which is important to realize and accept it, but not to decrease one's confidence. Having this disease doesn't make one any worse than other people. We know so many diseases today, have such advanced biology and all that technically nobody is completely 100% healthy, not physically and certainly not mentally. Drug addiction is just one of millions diseases people have.

 

[trees_please]

God has told me, while I was high on cough syrup, that addiction is a mental illness, that can strike at random whenever you do a drug.

You pedestrians need to get enlightened.

you need to speak with a psychiatrist

 

[tackyspiral]

i am happy to see the majority of bluelighters dont buy that whole disease bullshit
its the same thing as saying homosexuality is a disease IMO

 

[Seyer]

majority of bluelighters

Theres thousands upon thousands of BLers that havent voted, let alone seen this thread 8)

 

[verso]

There seems to be a lot of "fault" and "willpower" talk going on here, which strikes me as being somewhat odd and somewhat irrelevant. It may be one's fault that he or she picked up drugs -- cocaine, heroin and what have you -- in the first place and chose to abuse said drugs in such a way that ultimately resulted in their becoming addicted, but that in no way rules out the possibility of addiction being a disease.

If one smokes a pack a day and comes down with lung cancer, it may have been that person's fault and it may have been the result of one's lack of will-power, but the result is still a disease or physiological condition/ailment... lung cancer. So I would have to say that the possibility of addiction's being a disease still exists, all things considered.

But again, I go back and forth between believing that addiction is a disease and isn't a disease. I know that, just by mere observation, I have met people before who, for whatever reason, take their drugs and handle their drugs differently than others; for whatever reason, these people appear no more or less interested in taking drugs than they are in, say, eating a sandwich.

In fact, I knew one girl who would blow lines of dope and smoke crack with her boyfriend and friend of mine, but she never fiended, and even after binging, she would never pursue the drugs thereafter. It was like they just did not and could not grab her... when the drugs were gone, she was finished and quite content, and when they were around, she could take them or leave them. It was bizarre, to say the least.

We do know that drugs change the wiring in an individual's brain, whether permanent or not, and so the physiological changes that drugs bring about cannot be disputed, really. So, I suppose that I lean more toward addiction's being a disease than anything else, albeit a disease that one might have avoided had one exercised greater self-control.