for those who say addiction is a choice...?

Question

Do you people realize how many years of medical education, experience, and expertise you are trying to debunk by claiming that addicts "don't have to pick up" their vise?(be it another ding dong or another bottle)
And is that kind of comment soley an intensional means of relieving yourself from helping an addict. I mean it seems that if you can convince yourself that the drunk's next trip to the liquor store is a choice then you can relieve yourself from contributing to his recovery. Does that kinda sum up that statement of "choice"?

As a person that has worked with many addicts and especially alcoholics I am appalled at the number of people that want to discredit the American Medical Association's 1951 findings that Alcoholism is a disease rather than a choice. I am just curious as to the need to discredit that disease and yet at the same time accept that, say cancer, is a real disease.

Answer 1

Wow, interesting. I completely agree with you. From what I have learned, alcoholism, drug addicts, even smokers, cannot control their physiological addiction. I am talking about when it becomes an addiction....but BEFORE it becomes an addiction, it IS the by the persons own curiosity and free will to do what they do, and that can be controlled. But unfortunately, sometimes an addiction or cravings can be triggered by only one use (such as cocaine, or even nicotine). Your brain then, neurologically develops a need for these chemicals, as neurons begin changing and adapting to whatever it is you are using. Think of how depression and other mental illnesses that are associated with physiological, chemical imbalances that cannot be controlled by a person. That is how addiction also becomes an illness. Telling an addict to "just STOP", is as ignorant as telling someone with serious depression to just "feel better, force yourself to feel better". It's just not possible..when it is physiological, it is beyond your mental control. It is sad that these kinds of addictions can be prevented by never doing things to hurt yourself in the first place, BUT, I completely agree that after it has become an addiction, people need to understand just like other chemical imbalances and disorders, they are at the mercy of their physiological needs and it is now beyond their control.

Answer 2

I'm not entirely sure that there is a cut and dry answer to it. I'm studying psychology but I have also struggled with drinking and smoking. I know what it is like to feel that you have no control over your desire but I also know, from having breaks and stopping, that it is a choice whether to follow through or not. I really do have a choice whether I stop into the liquor store on the way home but chances are, that after a bad day, I will want a beer when I get home. The problem lies in that first beer or that first cigarette because it is hard for an addict to stop at just that one. The mind has gone there and the body will surely follow. I have also dealt with depression and I was horrified to go to a counselor one time to have him tell me that 'You only depress yourself' After I finished dismissing and abusing him in my head, I realized he had a point. I truly believe that depression is a chemical malfunction in the brain but you can make it so much worse for yourself if you dwell on it. The same goes for alcoholism, I think. I have alcoholic parents and I know for hell sure that this addictive personality is bred into me, and I have been there but on a day to day basis I have a choice. It truly is the whole nature vs nurture debate within one person. I know it sux like hell to be an addictive person and I wish that help was more accessible to people like me that don't have enough willpower or money at times. In summary, I think that there is a genetic predisposition to addiction but to say that a person has absolutely no control over their conscious actions is a fallacy.

Answer 3

First addiction takes a willful act to start. You cannot get addicted to drugs if you never take drugs, you will not become an alcoholic if you drink very little or do not drink. I will agree once you have the addiction it can be extremely hard to stop. I was at one time what the powers that be called a binge drinker. A form of addiction. I stopped. But starting was a choice, no ones fault but my own. Telling someone their addiction is a disease gives them an excuse to continue "because it is not their fault".
One can eat right, never smoke, keep in shape and still get cancer. I never met a drug addict that the never took drugs. I never met an alcoholic that didn't ever drink. Addicts may truly need help to quit, but getting started was a choice, pure and simple.

Answer 4

depends on the state of your mind and if you make it up or not (your mind) been drinking for 34 years sometimes in excess sometimes not at all,depends if there is a trigger point,and i would never discredit any medical personnel except when they tell me what they think is wrong with me and I know different.