Addiction is not a disease.

[PureX]

So genetics makes you put pills in your mouth or shoot your arm up with a syringe, or snort things up your nose

Genetics make some people react to those substances differently than others. And that reaction can be very intense, and very desirable. It can also include the loss of reason and proportion, so that once one takes even a small amount of the addictive substance, they lose their ability to reasonably assess taking more.

 

[Estro Felino]

Do you see what is wrong with 'pounding on the doors and crying and wailing' just because you can't have coffee anymore ? Or do you think that is a completely normal behavior ?

Caffeine is a drug that upsets our neurotransmitters. So it provokes abstinence...I remember when I forgot to buy coffee...I was going wild...

 

[Koldo]

Caffeine is a drug that upsets our neurotransmitters. So it provokes abstinence...I remember when I forgot to buy coffee...I was going wild...

I recommend slowly cutting down on that if it can have that sort of effect on you.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Genetics make some people react to those substances differently than others. And that reaction can be very intense, and very desirable. It can also include the loss of reason and proportion, so that once one takes even a small amount of the addictive substance, they lose their ability to reasonably assess taking more.

So genes are a disease.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It's certainly true that genetics plays a role in addiction, but it's considered only a component.

Having a genome with a higher propensity to abuse alcohol or drugs does not necessarily doom a person who is at a higher genetic risk into a life of alcoholism or drug addiction. There are other factors that are at play. That's the difference and why addiction itself is not a disease.

Source.....

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/genes/


"Susceptibility does not mean inevitability"

 

[Revoltingest]

Well when a person first takes drugs or whatever it is an intentional act in most cases. If it's prescribed by a doctor this would still be intentional because you're still willingly putting it in your mouth, hopefully aware of the side effects and such with the focus of getting better. Of course we all know about addiction to pain medicine that was prescribed. Would that consequently make a prescription a primary cause of disease?

While addiction is a consequence of an intentional act, addiction itself is undesired.
Chemotherapy is an example of intentionally caused disease, ie, poisoning oneself.
But it has the usefulness of curbing cancer, so the poisoning is worth it. And once
curbed, the poisoning is stopped.

I use holidays because people's behavior typically changes around holidays and birthdays. They tend to place people in a different frame of mind and for some people, the holidays could turn into a mental addiction that's hard to let go for better or for worse givin people are either exceedingly happy or exceedingly depressed as a result.

Behavior changes aren't inherently good or bad.
It all depends upon whether it's useful or dysfunctional.

 

[Revoltingest]

And I agree with @Revoltingest (shocking to both of us, I know) here.

I'll see to it that this seldom happens.

 

[Jumi]

So genetics makes you put pills in your mouth or shoot your arm up with a syringe, or snort things up your nose

Sounds like you didn't read that article very well.

 

[Revoltingest]

So genes are a disease.

Some genes cause disease.
Some predispose us to certain diseases.

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

Back to the OP: It appears that the OP has an issue with Evolving Language.

Well, that's just too bad: All languages that are still in constant use? Are so going to evolve over time, as social, economic and societal changes take place.

As we move from generation to generation, the language use will change, evolve and morph into new forms, new usage and new definitions.

I am just old enough, to remember when "cool" was an adjective and strictly referred to temperature....

I think the OP needs to calm down a wee bit. Perhaps mixing 1/2 of his coffee grounds with Decaf?

.... no? Well, the option is always there if you need it.

 

[siti]

I mean you don't inherit or catch addiction.

You don't inherit or catch a heart attack, stroke, cirrhosis of the liver or contact dermatitis either - these are diseases caused by behaviours - and in some cases probably genetic predispositions - but they are not themselves inherited or caught - they develop as a result of things we do to our bodies. How is that different from addiction?

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Addiction probably fits most dictionary definitions of "disease," which include things like effects from poison or toxicity, "developmental errors", nutritional imbalance and "unfavorable environmental factors". So, you can easily make a case for addiction under one of those broad categories.

However, I do think that labeling addiction as "disease", and getting that idea in people's minds allows for a certain amount of responsibility to be loosened from the equation. As in - "I have a disease!" let's you feel like it isn't as much your own fault (provided it was your fault in the first place, obviously - which is the case in the vast majority of situations).

 

[Shadow Wolf]

A disease is something foreign that causes the body to operate in a state of dysfunction. That does make the chemical dependency of addiction a disease.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

Here's the opening Salvo for the debate......

It would be nice if people stop referring to addictions as a disease, it's simply not the case, so stop calling it a disease.

Weither through drugs or the new recent "disease" of video game addiction (for which I also "suffer" from) is in fact a choice and habit gone chronic.

Drinking coffee and getting addicted to caffeine is not a disease. Honestly, if caffeine was ever made illegal I'd be pounding on the doors and crying and wailing just as much as any drug addict hooked on meth. But the bottom line is, it's simply not a disease.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3314045/


http://www.theclearingnw.com/blog/why-addiction-is-not-a-disease-an-interview-with-dr.-marc-lewis


https://nypost.com/2015/07/12/addic...were-treating-drug-and-alcohol-addicts-wrong/


For those that think it is a disease, how in the world can addiction be classified as a bona fide disease?

Addictions are no way similar whatsoever with diseases. Biologically or Mentally. You don't catch or inherit an addiction.

The word disease is more less a cafe' term as far as I'm concerned.

I agree for the most part, but addictive personalities can be hereditary, and there is definitely evidence of a genetic component to alcoholism.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

Here's the opening Salvo for the debate......

It would be nice if people stop referring to addictions as a disease, it's simply not the case, so stop calling it a disease.

Weither through drugs or the new recent "disease" of video game addiction (for which I also "suffer" from) is in fact a choice and habit gone chronic.

Drinking coffee and getting addicted to caffeine is not a disease. Honestly, if caffeine was ever made illegal I'd be pounding on the doors and crying and wailing just as much as any drug addict hooked on meth. But the bottom line is, it's simply not a disease.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3314045/


http://www.theclearingnw.com/blog/why-addiction-is-not-a-disease-an-interview-with-dr.-marc-lewis


https://nypost.com/2015/07/12/addic...were-treating-drug-and-alcohol-addicts-wrong/


For those that think it is a disease, how in the world can addiction be classified as a bona fide disease?

Addictions are no way similar whatsoever with diseases. Biologically or Mentally. You don't catch or inherit an addiction.

The word disease is more less a cafe' term as far as I'm concerned.

I agree for the most part, but addictive personalities can be hereditary, and there is definitely evidence of a genetic component to alcoholism.

 

[Twilight Hue]

You don't inherit or catch a heart attack, stroke, cirrhosis of the liver or contact dermatitis either - these are diseases caused by behaviours - and in some cases probably genetic predispositions - but they are not themselves inherited or caught - they develop as a result of things we do to our bodies. How is that different from addiction?

Well for starters, the aforementioned you pointed out can still come about without doing anything with our bodies at all.

That still can't be said for initiating addiction which requires the extra step of ingesting snorting or injecting.

That's the difference between disease and addiction.

I have coronary artery disease. There was nothing I can do to stop it from manifesting no matter how good I took care of myself.

 

[SomeRandom]

First define disease specifically.
Second, this whole oh it's a choice is a really callous or unrealistic viewpoint. One might even say naive in some respects. A child with addict parents might fall into the same trap. We know cycles of abuse are hard to break for a number of reasons. Whether that be physical or abuse of substances.
Then you have kids merely experimenting which society often seems to treat like a "rite of passage." Lots of cigarette addicts start in high school due to peer pressure, for example. Although when I worked the smokeshop some of the kids were turned off by the pics we have on ours.
People living homeless looking for an out, kids kicked out for whatever reason looking for something for the pain as it were and god knows what else.
You propose that all people have a choice. Which is true, but is it not worth having a little compassion for someone who feels they have no choice or sees the choice as something desirable?
I understand the term "disease" might seem like an out in some respect. I suspect it's merely language evolving as we understand more and more about addictions and how it affects the body.
One can argue that obesity is a choice, at least with some people. Should we then label all the known diseases associated with obesity choices too?

 

[siti]

Well for starters, the aforementioned you pointed out can still come about without doing anything with our bodies at all.

That still can't be said for initiating addiction which requires the extra step of ingesting snorting or injecting.

That's the difference between disease and addiction.

I have coronary artery disease. There was nothing I can do to stop it from manifesting no matter how good I took care of myself.

OK - you changed your post after I replied...anyway, I still don't agree at all. Whilst it is true that there are sometimes other factors that may initiate the diseases that I listed, ALL of them can be a direct result of poor "lifestyle" choices - unwise diets, tobacco use and lack of sufficient exercise - there is no question that the prevalence of type II diabetes in the world today is the result of the combined effects of our sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition - and for us that is very definitely a matter of choice. Not all cases of diabetes are directly attributable to these factors but many are and many that seem to have a genetic predisposition would certainly enjoy healthier lives if they had better diets and did a bit more exercise.

Addiction is a disease and needs to be investigated as such so that we can better understand the genetic and physiological triggers that cause people to spiral into uncontrolled addictive behaviours.

But I agree that there is a large element of choice. I believe that is true for other diseases as well - we can overcome diabetes (for example) by making deliberate choices about what we eat and how much exercise we take. The "cure" for a lot of our generation's ailments is the same as the cure for addiction - change our mindset and change our behaviour. To that extent, as long as we are not "too far gone" already, addiction and lifestyle diseases are very much alike - we (at least most of us) can choose not to have them.

 

[KT Shamim]

Here's the opening Salvo for the debate......

It would be nice if people stop referring to addictions as a disease, it's simply not the case, so stop calling it a disease.

Weither through drugs or the new recent "disease" of video game addiction (for which I also "suffer" from) is in fact a choice and habit gone chronic.

Drinking coffee and getting addicted to caffeine is not a disease. Honestly, if caffeine was ever made illegal I'd be pounding on the doors and crying and wailing just as much as any drug addict hooked on meth. But the bottom line is, it's simply not a disease.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3314045/


http://www.theclearingnw.com/blog/why-addiction-is-not-a-disease-an-interview-with-dr.-marc-lewis


https://nypost.com/2015/07/12/addic...were-treating-drug-and-alcohol-addicts-wrong/


For those that think it is a disease, how in the world can addiction be classified as a bona fide disease?

Addictions are no way similar whatsoever with diseases. Biologically or Mentally. You don't catch or inherit an addiction.

The word disease is more less a cafe' term as far as I'm concerned.

I think it is a mix. Varies from person to person and is too complicated for humans to judge. Too many factors so we leave judgement to God and try our best to stay away.

 

[Enoch07]

Here's the opening Salvo for the debate......

It would be nice if people stop referring to addictions as a disease, it's simply not the case, so stop calling it a disease.

Weither through drugs or the new recent "disease" of video game addiction (for which I also "suffer" from) is in fact a choice and habit gone chronic.

Drinking coffee and getting addicted to caffeine is not a disease. Honestly, if caffeine was ever made illegal I'd be pounding on the doors and crying and wailing just as much as any drug addict hooked on meth. But the bottom line is, it's simply not a disease.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3314045/


http://www.theclearingnw.com/blog/why-addiction-is-not-a-disease-an-interview-with-dr.-marc-lewis


https://nypost.com/2015/07/12/addic...were-treating-drug-and-alcohol-addicts-wrong/


For those that think it is a disease, how in the world can addiction be classified as a bona fide disease?

Addictions are no way similar whatsoever with diseases. Biologically or Mentally. You don't catch or inherit an addiction.

The word disease is more less a cafe' term as far as I'm concerned.

As an addict. (Recovering)

I am also against the term of it being defined as a disease. I feel like people use it to take away the responsibility of their own bad choices.

I am an addict but I fight to not be everyday. Someone with cancer can't fight the urge to have cancer. That's the difference I see anyways.