Sunday, 19 April 2009
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Are Drug Addiction And Alcoholism Diseases?
Do you think drug addiction and alcoholism are diseases? Why or why not?
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Comments (39)
one must define diseases first...then see where they fit ones own definition ...
It's a disease, but it's one that people choose.
Perhaps in a sense, a certain kind of illness for specificity, as in something that can be developed. Not a disease, though. Diseases are usually due to failure in health.
Yes, they are. But they're often preventable.
I'd have to say they're diseases, because insurance companies recognize them as such. Do you know how tough it is to convince insurance companies to recognize new diseases? It tough to deny it's a disease when insurance companies think they are.
And, in all seriousness, they really are diseases. Have you ever talked to an addicted person? They feel like they need the drug. They want to stop, but they can't. It's not a lack of willpower. There's something going on in their heads that keeps them needing the substance. And although marijuana addiction is theorized to be purely psychological, that doesn't make the people who can't stop it any weaker. It's like having any other psychological disorder, such as an eating disorder (which may be a bad example because of the stigma behind it) and depression. Even more interestingly, most drug addictions are seen as physiological. For alcohol addiction, look up THIQ. Other addictions have to do with serotonin's, dopamine's, and other chemicals' receptors. Yes, the person chooses to do the drug, but after that, the biological and psychological factors kick in. So yes, I consider it a disease.
A lot of people say they're a "choice" therefore not a disease, but lots of diseases are preventable. And because one chooses to drink or do drugs, it doesn't mean they're automatically addicted anyway, though some people do have a higher risk for dependency on such a substance. I think in some instances it is a disease, but it's often a symptom for another such disorder, as people often try to self-medicate for other psychiatric disorders with drug and alcohol. But in some circumstances, yes, addiction itself is a disease.
I would never consider them diseases because to me that implies one is "sick" with an "illness." I would call them addictions - and addictions always start with choice. I believe after that initial choice they can *become* addictions where one feels powerless against the pull - but that doesn't negate the freedom of human decision.
Very much so: there are fundamental biological effects and often genetic links. That they're preventable is almost irrelevant: many, many other diseases are also preventable, at least to some degree (e.g. any kind of STI, many cardiac disorders, certain kinds of cancers). Unlike with many of those, people who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction are subject to a kind of finger-wagging judgmental moralizing that serves only to exacerbate the problem.
How someone acquired a disease is irrelevant to its nature, and rarely relevant to its treatment. But the psychological and physical effects of drug addiction are horrifyingly real: minimizing them by saying they're a "choice" is borderline cruel.
I think more often than not, people bring those diseases onto themselves.
no one's making you smoke that joint..no ones making you take that shot, your doing it to yourself.
it's so sad when that's all people know.
my bf's like that..and i tell him he's like a zombie sometimes and he even admitted he cant really hold down a conversation and is a zombie.
it's true tho. he dosen't really have an open mind. he's very close-minded and dosen't seem to really have anything going on upstairs. sorry to say.
They are diseases. As much as you try to overcome it, many people fail to. Some determined individuals do strive for a cure & eventually do overcome it.
@Passionflwr86@xanga - Lots of diseases start with a choice. Many people get skin cancer from tanning too often and if they chose not to tan in the first place they wouldn't have cancer. People who are overweight and develop Type II diabetes because of it still have a disease even though it was brought on by their decision to overeat. Or even STD's could be avoided by choice, if you chose not to have sex. I wouldn't say just because that first drink or the first time they shoot up or whatever was a choice means it isn't a disease because many diseases are brought on by our choices.
Well, if you eat a lot of fattening and unhealthy food, it can lead to Type 2 Diabetes. So if you drink a lot and do drugs, then it can lead to Alcoholism and severe Drug Addiction... aren't those two the same thing, though slightly different situations?
I suppose that it could be considered a disease, but since there is no specific treatment for it in a medicinal form, it probably isn't considered a disease by most.
Yes.
According to the DSM IV TR, they are diseases.
@guru hoodoo - I was going to say the same thing.
Yes, they are diseases.
yes. according to the DSM-IV and much research and personal encounters, anyone who studies substance abuse will understand it goes deeper than just the addiction.
Well the majority of my family are alcoholics and or drug addicts. Most have passed away due to it. I never really thought of it as being a disease until I took my brother into a clinic for help. The counselor said it was a disease that is hereditary or rather the ability to be addicted is. I'm not really sure though, people can say anything is a disease now days. In the experience that I have had with family it was or is virtuously impossible for them to overcome, however people do overcome it. Your mind is a powerful thing and I feel that if you really want something bad enough for yourself you can overcome. So if it was a disease how have so many people quit after drinking for so many years? Yet it is a continuous struggle for them, for the rest of thier life. So, would that make it a disease?
I think it really depends on the person. I think for some people it can be chemical and others psychological. So maybe disease is the wrong word. Perhaps genetic tendency towards addiction? I'm not sure. But getting over any type of addiction that strong has to be challenging.
Also there is a great episode of South Park making fun of this called "Bloody Mary" (www.southparkstudios.com). Highly recommended.
I'm terribly sorry to say it but no, I do not think addiction is a disease. I do not think that saying it starts with a choice trivializes the horrible effects of addiction nor do I think it's cruel. In my opinion, the things that so often go with drug abuse, are diseases, cancer, cirrhosis of the liver and psychosis, to name a few.
I'm confussed, but I think that it is a adiction... Disease as consequence of this addiction when there are horrible effects of adiction for drugs and wine, or beers... whatever
Like a blind or deaf person an alcoholic can choose to be defeated by his impairment or embrace life.
@manyvoices@xanga - People overcome diseases all the time without medication. Like the common cold. We don't have a cure for that, but you don't have it for your whole life either.
@dgschleg - Genetic diseases are still diseases. Is sickle-cell anemia not a disease, but rather a genetic predisposition towards malformed red blood cells? No, everyone would consider it a disease. So why would addiction not be a disease.
@Umnenga@xanga - Well said.
I don't believe it's a disease, it's a lifestyle choice.
...a shitty one.
it becomes a disease when you try to quit but you've chosen to fuck up your body chemistry so much that you can't function without those substances.
stupid stupid stupid.
it's terrible to be the daughter of two alcoholics.
I just feel like if someone tried to use the excuse,
"I didn't CHOOSE to be an alcoholic, I have a disease!"
or
"I didn't CHOOSE to be a crack addict, I have a disease!"
...really? and the disease which was bestowed upon you is what made you ingest that alcohol or smoke from that crack pipe?
I don't know. I think that yes, it becomes a disease, but not that it begins as one. I don't think people always bring it on themselves purposely, but I do think that people bring it upon themselves.
@nosillassim@xanga - Not always some people are born with it. Sometimes parents decide to make wrong choices and sadly the poor child get's to suffer from their mishaps.
For instance pregnant woman and cocaine. The baby then becomes relied on that substance from a young age and when it's borns it goes through withdrawl symptoms....