ADDICTION... A disease or all in your head?

Question

In my opinion, a disease is something that makes you physically sick... like cancer. I think addiction is just all the chemicals in your head going crazy and psychologically making you THINK you need that (cigarette, cocain, food, etc.).. but you really dont.

What do you think?

Best answer goes to the best, well-supported answer, not just agreeing with what I think. Details are welcome in this circumstance...

Answer 1

I have struggled with addiction and no, I don't think it is a disease. It is a result of an underlying condition. Obsessive compulsive disorder. It has to do with geographical circumstances also. AA/NA tell everybody they have a disease, which I do not agree with. They also drum into folk's heads that once an addict, always an addict, which I strongly disagree with. I believe that once one starts using, when they try to quit is the hardest because their bodies have become accustomed to their drug of choice. Sometimes, it is very uncomfortable coming down or trying to quit because the body has to become accustomed to living without that chemical, so I guess you could call if a chemical imbalance or dependance.

Now, on the other hand, some folks' brains were never able to make enough seratonin and/or melatanin, so those folks self medicate because the body may actually need the inputted chemicals to make up for what the body naturally lacks. A lot of folks turn to illegal drugs, some alcohol and some prescription medications. It is all the same though. Illegal or not, they are all drugs.

Another point is that it does have a lot to do with is who we hang out with. Believe it or not, a lot of drug addicts become addicted to the drama and excitement that surrounds being with those types of peers. Once those people are gone, maybe they just can't find enough excitement in a normal, everyday, somewhat boring lifestyle, so they go back to using the drugs.

This is only what I have seen and I have seen a lot. No wikpedia here, just personal experience and observances.

Answer 2

It's a disease because even though you made the choice to drink excessively, or use illegal drugs, you didn't choose to become addicted to them. Not everyone who drinks becomes addicted to alcohol, but for those who do, they have a disease. They have some type of a predisposition that enables their body to crave something it was introduced to, something that a normal body would not respond to with a craving. A normal body rejects things that make it feel like crap the next day, it doesn't crave for more. When a body's ability to function normally is impaired beyond a person's control...hence the addiction, well then it's diseased. OCD, or obsessive compulsive disorder is a disease too. The brain requires it to perform the same activity repetitively. Addiction can easily be likened to OCD. Just as someone whose brain forces them to arrange things symmetrically over and over again to fullfill an unwanted act or thought, a person with an addition's brain forces them to repeat an action (ingesting a foreign substance) to fullfill an unnecessary urge. Saying you don't have a disease doesn't make you any better of a person that you were as a drunk. It doesn't imply that you're accepting responsiblity for your own actions. What it does do is prohibit you from progressing further in your attempt to get your disease under control. If you don't accept the fact that you have a disease, whether it be cancer or an addiction, and then utilize the treatments available to help get the disease under control, then you will die. There's no way around it.

Answer 3

I read a book and I could only get half way through it because it was really disturbing. It was called when rabbit howls. It is about a woman who has DID (multipul personalities) One of her personality was a chain smoker and most others didn't smoke at all. If your body craved the smoking disease/addiction then the other personalities who didn't smoke would end up smoking as well right because if it was a disease then the body would be and all other personalities would be dying from it? Addiction is totally a mind thing it isn't a disease.

Answer 4

I think in this politically correct environment it is easier to blame dependancy on sort of chemical imbalance/reliance rather than accepting the fact that they are of weak mindedness and can't control themselves.

Alcoholism in my mind is a choice. You choose to drink or you don't. Smoking a disease? It's a choice. All addicitions are a choice. I don't choose to get cancer, or choose leprosy. Those afflictions happen because they do.

The term "disease" for addictions like alcohol is used because some pathetic disenfranchised thin-skinned loser felt more comfortable if he were labeled with a disease, that way, he could blame the "disease" for all their problems and shortcomings without having to accept the fact that they brought it on themselves.

I choose not to smoke, drink, do drugs or abuse small furry animals. But sure as I'm sitting here typing this, I'll die of some disease, but at least it will be a real one and not one conjured up by our do-goody society where everybody is a victim and our self-destructive habits can be conveniently labeled as a disease.

Answer 5

Addiction is a Mental illness~

A disease can be thought of as the presence of pathology, which can occur with or without subjective feelings of being unwell or social recognition of that state.

Whereas,

An Illness is the subjective state of "unwellness", which can occur independently of, or in conjunction with disease or sickness; and sickness as the social classification of someone deemed diseased, which can also occur independently of the presence or absence of disease or illness.

So basically you are right to say that an addicition by itself is not a disease as it does not make you physically sick. However the act of being addicted could lead you to feeling unwell. For example, an addiction to alcohol could make u consume large amounts of alcohol that could lead you to a hang over. The craving for cigarettes, drugs or food etc. also leads to a state of unwellness especially when one becomes psychologically and physiologically dependent on the drug/stimulus and cannot obtain it.

Thus, Addicition should be considered an Illness.

Answer 6

I agree with you 100%. I get very angry when people say that alcoholism is a disease.

I have an autoimmune disease. To say that addictions like alcoholism are diseases is a huge slap in the face to me and people with cancer, HIV, AIDS, and other *true* diseases. It's not my fault or problem that I am able to control how much I drink but other people can't control themselves and don't stop drinking when they should. That's their responsibility. To call alcoholism a disease is enabling people to say "Look, I can't help how much i drink! I have a DISEASE!" It's an easy way out and a way for them to not take responsibility for their actions.

Bullsh*t.

Answer 7

The nature of an addiction depends on what you're addicted to. Some drugs have chemically addictive properties and some do not. Alcohol for example is chemically addictive. If an alcoholic is not able to get their fix, they tremor, lose their appetite, maybe even hallucinate or go through other withdrawal symptoms. Marijuana on the other is not chemically addictive. Those who are addicted to it are psychologically addicted to it's affect on their thoughts and moods. If they were to quit cold turkey, they might become more irritable or have to adjust their mood to sobriety, but they won't go through withdrawal symptom like those associated with alcohol.

Further drugs that are chemically addictive:

Cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, nicotine, caffeine

Further drugs that are more psychologically addictive:

XTC, LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms

Answer 8

It is all in the mind, when we sink a little, it becomes addition.
Now one of my addiction is to answer. I may answer 1 or 2 but when I sink or have sympathy with a new question, I keep answering and on and on.

when I say only 2 anwer and I obey my self then I am in command, then addiction is not there.

Answer 9

I dont think that addiction is a disease, its more of a mental thing. For example, I get a lot of migraines, and I am constatly thinking that I need to have Excedrins in my purse. Sometimes, I take them when I dont have a headache, but it makes me feel better if I take one because I assume it will prevent one. But if I am distracted doing something and take my mind off of it, I dont feel the need. Good Luck.

Answer 10

Addiction is not a disease at all but a habit that has overpowered you sence of reason