Stop Calling it an Addiction!

[Seldon2639]

While not entirely on subject, there is alot of mentions of stuff that get branded "disease" without even being close to true, best example i can think of is obesity, i seriously get mad whenever some ignorant person says its a disease, hell, im a big guy myself, about 30kg overweight, and even i know that it isnt a disease, there are always ways to loose weight, it's all about personal will and strength, branding something as a disease is just a scape-goat for the real issue, same with branding things as an addiction when they really arent.

You're funny when you're completely wrong. I mean, even ignoring your apparent hatred for both punctuation and capital letters, your interpretation of the issue is simply at odds with both the medical community, and the scientific community at large.

Anecdotal evidence, personal experience, and folksy wisdom may be entertaining (and even persuade people who don't know what they're talking about), but it takes a true level of ignorance to attempt to present you personal opinion as the god's honest truth. In this case, it's especially stupid, because you're incorrect.

Are you attempting to say that the only way a disease is a disease is if it's incurable? MRSA is curable, so's syphillis, African Sleeping Sickness, Leprosy, Legionnaire's Disease, even cancer sometimes. Are those not diseases? And before you attempt a weak defense that those are "different", you said it yourself:

The only evidence you bring that obesity isn't a disease is because "there are always ways to loose weight". But, the fact that one can repair the damage of, or even cure a, disease doesn't make it less of a disease.

That brings us to that old lovely: "it's all about personal responsibility/willpower/strength/choices/effort ad infinitum". We hear this a lot, and it comes from the same place as what Dirty Apple said: if you aren't addicted to something, it's much more difficult to comprehend and accept other people being addicted. I'm not addicted to alcohol, so I can't really see how someone else could be unable to just put the glass down, but that's not proof that they can simply choose to stop drinking.

And, not for nothing, but neuroscience has shown us time and again that there's no such thing as free will, it's all chemical reactions in the brain. If someone is miswired to overeat, and gain weight, why would you blame him or her for a defect? Would you refuse to call a mentally challenged person mentally challenged? Of course not. The fact that you may not share the defect doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There are always ways to lose weight? Sure, for those people who aren't possessed of the mental defect that causes them to be overweight. For them, it's no more a simple "choice" than it is another person's "choice" to have Down's syndrome.

 

[Seldon2639]

This annoyance also applies to those who insist on re-branding addictions as diseases.
Last time I checked, one can't simply starve out lymphoma and hepatitis. As terribly awful as heroine withdrawal must be, it is survivable. I would love to be in the room and hear the self perscribing hop-head tell the Multiple Scelrosis patient that they belong in the same group.

paraphrasing the words of Phillip K Dick in the afterword of A Scanner Darkly, drug addiction is not a disease, it's a choice. you chose to do the what the drug, you didn't need it you chose it. it's much like walking in front of a bus, you chose to walk in front of the bus.

i'm kinda sick of people saying it's a disease but it's part of a trend to remove blame and personal responsibility from one's own actions. it's easier to say it was the drugs causing you to do that than you admitting that you were a jack ass and did all that bad stuff of your own volition

You chose to have sex, therefore an STI isn't a disease. You chose to go to Africa, therefore Dengue Fever isn't a disease. You didn't need sex. You didn't need to go to Africa. You didn't need to do drugs. Do you see where your analysis breaks down completely? 'Cause it's about right there.

If the schema is "anything you exposed yourself to which you didn't need to isn't a disease" I can accept that, but be consistent. Or, you know, you could read some of the scientific literature and discover (with what might be a shock) that people with addictions are actually neurologically wired differently.

The fact that someone made a poor decision and got sick as a result doesn't make the sickness any less of a disease. If it does, I'd like you to please go tell people who got cancer from buildings with asbestos in them that they don't have a disease. Also, go find some HIV positive people to explain that they did it to themselves, and therefore it can't be a disease. Also, if you'd kindly, get your head out from your rectum and do some research before spouting self-righteous nonsense.

 

[Marowit]

This annoyance also applies to those who insist on re-branding addictions as diseases.
Last time I checked, one can't simply starve out lymphoma and hepatitis. As terribly awful as heroine withdrawal must be, it is survivable. I would love to be in the room and hear the self perscribing hop-head tell the Multiple Scelrosis patient that they belong in the same group.

paraphrasing the words of Phillip K Dick in the afterword of A Scanner Darkly, drug addiction is not a disease, it's a choice. you chose to do the what the drug, you didn't need it you chose it. it's much like walking in front of a bus, you chose to walk in front of the bus.

i'm kinda sick of people saying it's a disease but it's part of a trend to remove blame and personal responsibility from one's own actions. it's easier to say it was the drugs causing you to do that than you admitting that you were a jack ass and did all that bad stuff of your own volition

While I agree with you somewhat about the attempt to remove responsibility, you also have to consider the definition of disease. Withdrawal/Addiction fall into that definition ("A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as invading organisms, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune diseases.")

Yes, people should be held culpable while they are addicted, addiction/withdrawal does change the physiology going on in your body...to an abnormal state...

 

[Kpt._Rob]

The term addiction meerly refers to something that creates compulsive behavior. You are right in a sense, an addiction to heroin is more powerful than an addiction to gambling, but both of these things can create compulsive behaviors. The ultimate goal for someone addicted to either of these is to feel good. As a friend of mine who is a heavy drug user put it "if you try heroin once, you want to try it again." The same concept genuinely applies to anything that feels good, whether it's a fun videogame or MDMA. The term addiction is applied when someone obsesses over how good a certain behavior makes them feel, and begins to falter in the maintnence of their day to day life as a result. Often times what an addictive substance will do is simply simulate the chemical dopamine, which is one of the primary chemicals responsible for feeling good, the implication then is that substance addicts have simply bypassed the work stage (all the lost gambles, games, etc...) and simply arrived at the rewarding feeling, while the gambling or gaming addict does not get to bypass this stage. In both cases the desire for the rewarding feeling is so compelling that the addict can not think of anything else.

Also, addiction is considered an illness for the same reason that dissassociative personality disorder or schizophrenia are considered illnesses. Just because something is psychological doesn't mean it can't be an illness.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

[
You chose to have sex, therefore an STI isn't a disease. You chose to go to Africa, therefore Dengue Fever isn't a disease. You didn't need sex. You didn't need to go to Africa. You didn't need to do drugs. Do you see where your analysis breaks down completely? 'Cause it's about right there.

If the schema is "anything you exposed yourself to which you didn't need to isn't a disease" I can accept that, but be consistent. Or, you know, you could read some of the scientific literature and discover (with what might be a shock) that people with addictions are actually neurologically wired differently.

The fact that someone made a poor decision and got sick as a result doesn't make the sickness any less of a disease. If it does, I'd like you to please go tell people who got cancer from buildings with asbestos in them that they don't have a disease. Also, go find some HIV positive people to explain that they did it to themselves, and therefore it can't be a disease. Also, if you'd kindly, get your head out from your rectum and do some research before spouting self-righteous nonsense.

WRONG and bad analogy. the STI is a verifiable organism in your system and you also chose not to wear a condom. where is the virus for the addiction? there isn't one. so right there everything you said goes out the window

with the bus analogy, like the addiction, there's no living aspect to it like there is with a virus.

as for HIV, they did do it to themselves. they chose to have sex, they chose to not have a condom and they chose not to have both parties tested for HIV. totally their own fault that they had this happen to them.

as for me i did do some research and could easily point out how flawed your logic is. also what i was saying is also from a former drug addict, who had many friends that were either killed or permanently disabled due to drug use.

so maybe you should actually understand what i and he was saying about it. addiction is NOT a disease, there's no living aspect to it like there is with every other disease, such as the ones you listed. i didn't even need a medical degree to figure that one out.

 

[Hyperone]

Your own bias against the word addiction is your problem, not the worlds.

Anything in which a person has such an attachment they suffer for it, can easily be labeled an addiction. And if you think gaming cannot have negative biological effects, I can stand as proof positive it has.

From:

Bad Eyesight: What I can almost bet you has come from one to many hours glued to a computer/TV.
Posture: Read as above.
Weight: I have gone from a nice 6' 0" 210 lbs down to 155 lbs due to meals I skipped while playing.

Like anything in life, too much will impact you negatively, more so than you may be willing to believe.

 

[minarri]

This annoyance also applies to those who insist on re-branding addictions as diseases. Last time I checked, one can't simply starve out lymphoma and hepatitis. As terribly awful as heroine withdrawal must be, it is survivable. I would love to be in the room and hear the self perscribing hop-head tell the Multiple Scelrosis patient that they belong in the same group.

You sure you're comfortable with branding all mental illnesses as trifles?

Ok, stop right there. Not once do I say "all mental illnesses are trifling." I have nothing but the greatest sympathy and respect for those who are battling mental illness. Those fighting with addiction though...

You might want to flip through a copy of the DSM-IV; addiction is listed as a mental illness.