ChatterBank1 min ago
Addiction = Disease
48 Answers
I realise this won't be a popular point of view but I'd like to know when we started labelling addictions to alcohol, drugs, etc as diseases. And Why.
To be honest, in my mind it's just a label that excuses the behaviour because it's easier than tackling the problem.
Addictions tear entire families apart because someone continually chooses to take a substance, which is something a cancer sufferer would not have the luxury of. I'm certainly not saying it's an easy choice, I've seen with my own eyes how hard it can be but I really feel like this disease label panders to people who could control it with the right attitude and help.
Just interested to see other peoples views on it really?
To be honest, in my mind it's just a label that excuses the behaviour because it's easier than tackling the problem.
Addictions tear entire families apart because someone continually chooses to take a substance, which is something a cancer sufferer would not have the luxury of. I'm certainly not saying it's an easy choice, I've seen with my own eyes how hard it can be but I really feel like this disease label panders to people who could control it with the right attitude and help.
Just interested to see other peoples views on it really?
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Lazygun...you are right....I did not explain myself very well as i was at my Club and wasn't concentrating.
My point........an abnormal genotype in an otherwise unclassified "condition" e.g alcoholism doesn't necessarily indicate cause and effect, as it may be coincidental and assuming that it is responsible for the underlying condition may well be fallacious.
We seem to be charging headlong into this genetic assumption (blind alley)
I can see that you are not a clinician ( no disrespect) but any diagnostic problem half a century ago, was investigated ad infinitum until and abnormality was found and then cause and effect was assumed.......so often it was proved to be not the case (blind alley)
Just a thought....
My point........an abnormal genotype in an otherwise unclassified "condition" e.g alcoholism doesn't necessarily indicate cause and effect, as it may be coincidental and assuming that it is responsible for the underlying condition may well be fallacious.
We seem to be charging headlong into this genetic assumption (blind alley)
I can see that you are not a clinician ( no disrespect) but any diagnostic problem half a century ago, was investigated ad infinitum until and abnormality was found and then cause and effect was assumed.......so often it was proved to be not the case (blind alley)
Just a thought....
To me the word disease has certain connotations. Alcoholism, substance abuse, etc are self inflicted. Nobody with cancer can decide they don't want to get cancer. Nor do they chose to live with cancer regardless of the effects it will have on their health, home and family life.
An alcoholic do have a choice, as hard as it may be. There are addicts who chose their drug over their own children.
Anyway, I feel I'm getting a little out of my depth here but I'd be interested to continue reading the debate, should anyone with to continue it.
An alcoholic do have a choice, as hard as it may be. There are addicts who chose their drug over their own children.
Anyway, I feel I'm getting a little out of my depth here but I'd be interested to continue reading the debate, should anyone with to continue it.
Alcoholism, Evian, is not self-inflicted in the way getting drunk is. Could be argued that it's not self-inflicted at all, because it is so insidious. Nobody chooses to be an alcoholic; it's not a lifestyle choice !
The normal person gets drunk as a skunk and regrets the decision. The alcoholic doesn't need to get drunk like that. He has a drink and gradually feels he'd like more but is not aware of that. The reward for him is he feels more content; later he will feel anxious or plain scared if he doesn't have a certain level to function . He may never get really drunk. But the addiction is slowly working, and he gradually needs more. He has met the trigger point. After that, and it may take many years, he gets to the point where everyone but him notices he is drinking quite a lot, not that he cares much because the drink is taking over his life and he is in the first of the stages of denial and then he reaches total isolation. If it's was a matter of being weak willed, how much strength of will does it take to know that you are losing your job, your friends, your family, your money, and still decide that you'll have another drink !
The normal person gets drunk as a skunk and regrets the decision. The alcoholic doesn't need to get drunk like that. He has a drink and gradually feels he'd like more but is not aware of that. The reward for him is he feels more content; later he will feel anxious or plain scared if he doesn't have a certain level to function . He may never get really drunk. But the addiction is slowly working, and he gradually needs more. He has met the trigger point. After that, and it may take many years, he gets to the point where everyone but him notices he is drinking quite a lot, not that he cares much because the drink is taking over his life and he is in the first of the stages of denial and then he reaches total isolation. If it's was a matter of being weak willed, how much strength of will does it take to know that you are losing your job, your friends, your family, your money, and still decide that you'll have another drink !
@ Sqad - No offence taken - I have never claimed to be a clinician :)
I do not think the evidence to date should be read as meaning that a diagnosis of alcoholism automatically means an assumption that their is an underlying genetic disorder.
What the evidence does suggest though would be that some individuals may have a predisposition to the potential for addiction, formed from their genetic/ epigenetic status.
This is not to suggest that all behaviours of an addict can be excused on the grounds that it is "genetic" and that they are helplessly in thrall to their genes.
Identifying the genetic association between someones genotype and susceptibility to a particular disease is becoming increasingly important, as in the identification of BRCA-1 and BRCA -2 in Breast Cancer. The risks of mutation of the CFTR gene for Cystic Fibrosis, or mutations in the HBB gene that lead to the production of HbS in sickle cell anaemia are already very well characterised and understood.
I do not think that we will find such a strong biochemical association between genetic status and, say, alcoholism, because the picture is complicated by inheritance of personality traits and familial behaviours but nonetheless such research could prove useful in counselling and moderating behaviours....
I do not think the evidence to date should be read as meaning that a diagnosis of alcoholism automatically means an assumption that their is an underlying genetic disorder.
What the evidence does suggest though would be that some individuals may have a predisposition to the potential for addiction, formed from their genetic/ epigenetic status.
This is not to suggest that all behaviours of an addict can be excused on the grounds that it is "genetic" and that they are helplessly in thrall to their genes.
Identifying the genetic association between someones genotype and susceptibility to a particular disease is becoming increasingly important, as in the identification of BRCA-1 and BRCA -2 in Breast Cancer. The risks of mutation of the CFTR gene for Cystic Fibrosis, or mutations in the HBB gene that lead to the production of HbS in sickle cell anaemia are already very well characterised and understood.
I do not think that we will find such a strong biochemical association between genetic status and, say, alcoholism, because the picture is complicated by inheritance of personality traits and familial behaviours but nonetheless such research could prove useful in counselling and moderating behaviours....
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