Addiction is a disease?

craig r · #1 12-07-2005, 04:28 AM

I decided to post this here instead of in OOT (which seems to be my new home). When people say addiction is a disease without a cure, do they mean this literally or is it metaphorical? I am not as concerned here with the "cure" part as I am the "disease" part. And I am not just talking about gambling addiction. I mean, all types of addiction. From my understanding all addiction is the same, even if the drug, food, type of sex, etc... is different.

craig

#2 12-07-2005, 05:31 AM

[ QUOTE ]
When people say addiction is a disease without a cure, do they mean this literally or is it metaphorical?

[/ QUOTE ]

Both. I can't speak for all addictions, but scientists believe that alcoholics have a genetic predisposition toward their addiction. Whether this makes their alcoholism inevitable from birth is not known.

What is known is that no alcoholic is ever cured of his disease. There are no ex-alcoholics, only recovering alcholics. The only solution is to abstain.

AlanBostick · #3 12-08-2005, 06:51 PM

Not all addictions are created equal, then. I was hooked on cigarettes for a decade, finally quitting in 1988. I spent this past October in Biloxi, Mississippi, doing hurricane relief work. Everyone there smoked, and it was a high-stress situation. It wasn't long before I started smoking again, too.

Just before I boarded my plane home, I threw away what remained of my cigarettes. There is no room for smoking in my home life. I resigned myself to a week or two of misery until the nicotine fits passed.

To my complete surprise, they never arrived. I noticed when the effects of my last cigarette wore off, but I never felt any of the shaking and nervousness that I remembered from my many earlier attempts to quit.

N.B.: Some addiction and recovery experts would not describe my physiological dependence on cigarettes in my youth as an "addiction"; under a widely-used definition, for a condition to be an addiction it has to have an immediate negative impact on one's life, relationships, or work situation.

PokerAmateur4 · #4 12-09-2005, 11:55 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
When people say addiction is a disease without a cure, do they mean this literally or is it metaphorical?

[/ QUOTE ]

Both. I can't speak for all addictions, but scientists believe that alcoholics have a genetic predisposition toward their addiction. Whether this makes their alcoholism inevitable from birth is not known.

What is known is that no alcoholic is ever cured of his disease. There are no ex-alcoholics, only recovering alcholics. The only solution is to abstain.

[/ QUOTE ] I didn't read past here but...
This can't be true I don't think, such a universal statement. While wise as a rule for any, can't some alchoholics drink just a few beers or what have you later in their recovery?

SNOWBALL138 · #5 12-12-2005, 02:38 PM

[ QUOTE ]
When people say addiction is a disease without a cure, do they mean this literally or is it metaphorical?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both. I can't speak for all addictions, but scientists believe that alcoholics have a genetic predisposition toward their addiction. Whether this makes their alcoholism inevitable from birth is not known.

What is known is that no alcoholic is ever cured of his disease. There are no ex-alcoholics, only recovering alcholics. The only solution is to abstain.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats all just AA mumbo-jumbo.

soko · #6 12-07-2005, 11:03 AM

Addiction is a disease.

When you see first hand what it can do to your family and people you know you will understand. People can become monsters and do things that they know are wrong and justify it with [censored] that only makes sense to them, they become posessed, they aren't even human, their mind is turned off and the drugs take over the conrols.

#7 12-07-2005, 01:46 PM

[ QUOTE ]

When you see first hand what it can do to your family and people you know you will understand. People can become monsters and do things that they know are wrong and justify it with [censored] that only makes sense to them, they become posessed, they aren't even human, their mind is turned off and the drugs take over the conrols.

[/ QUOTE ]

Substitute the word "drugs" with alcohol, gambling, sex, food, etc., and you can say the same thing. It's the addiction, not the means.

craig r · #8 12-09-2005, 01:31 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Addiction is a disease.

When you see first hand what it can do to your family and people you know you will understand. People can become monsters and do things that they know are wrong and justify it with [censored] that only makes sense to them, they become posessed, they aren't even human, their mind is turned off and the drugs take over the conrols.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't understand how this makes it a disease. I am not saying that it isn't, but just because it changes a person into something they are not, does that necessarily make it a disease.

craig

p.s. I have experienced it first hand.

#9 12-09-2005, 02:29 AM

Craig, Alcoholism was defined/identified by the AMA as a disease because it met the criteria for their definition. For the life of me I can not find the list. The only one I remember is the one that I guess made the biggest impression on me - If untreated, the condition will cause/lead to death. (paraphrase?)

craig r · #10 12-09-2005, 05:12 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Craig, Alcoholism was defined/identified by the AMA as a disease because it met the criteria for their definition. For the life of me I can not find the list. The only one I remember is the one that I guess made the biggest impression on me - If untreated, the condition will cause/lead to death. (paraphrase?)

[/ QUOTE ]

I wasn't trying to claim it wasn't a disease, but that the person I quoted was not making a case for why it was a disease, just why it was bad.

I personally do think it is a disease.