Addiction Not a Disease

[Lewkowski]

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...science-stigma

"Along with an assortment of other psychologists and neuroscientists, I’ve been challenging the disease model for years. One result has been a volley of counter-attacks: how dare I pull the rug out from under the feet of addicts who rely on the disease label to get help and avoid stigmatization? So, I’m going to put the scientific debate aside for now and challenge the idea that calling addiction a disease is beneficial for addicts. On the contrary, I think it increases their burden."

A lot of interesting things in the article and I have a few comments.

1. This particular passage should offend everyone who values any sort of objective look at medicine or science in general. The idea that we should classify something as one thing or another in the face of evidence *because of the impact of how we classify it* is awful. It says "Hey don't go too far down this track because you'll offend people." It prioritizes people to accept the 'proper position' as opposed to actually looking at evidence in an unbiased fashion.

2. The 'is it a disease' is really silly when it comes to the supposed reason of 'avoiding stigma.' AIDS created a stigma for the person with the disease. Today obesity creates a stigma (and justifiably so). You smoke and get lung cancer? Well that's a shame but you should of known better... Simply classifying something as a disease does not make it free of condemnation.

3. The only way to praise someone is to create a a comparison. Stay with me here. If you for example say "good job you haven't had a drink in 5 years" that means they have done something good. That also means the opposite action would have been bad. If you give people agency for their success you *MUST* give them agency for their failures. To do otherwise is to firmly embrace cognitive dissonance and PC bullshit. Good choices generally = good outcomes. Bad choices generally = bad outcomes. If people have control of their choices they have agency, if they don't they don't and there is NOTHING to ever praise.

The bottom line when it comes to these types of things is a depressing reality that society has embraced the idea you must never find fault in people's actions. Ever. This is not only stupid it is also counterproductive. While people's choices are always their own, people can be influenced by others. If people embrace the deceitful mindset that their actions are beyond their control they will NEVER be empowered to change. Empowerment is the key.

[ar81]

As I see it, the difference between great enthusiasm and addiction is:

1.Addiction is when you do that so much that it hurts your life. For example, it is Ok to be a hardcore fan of a videogame, but if you stop sleeping and die, or you do not go to work, or you leave a baby unattended, there is a problem and it should be considered disease.

2.Addiction cheats your brain reward system. Making you less able to function. For example addiction to porn may cause inability to work properly when facing a real sexual partner.

3.Addiction does not make the task of detaching very easy. If you are able to detach and move on, you probably have a great enthisuasm. If not, you have a problem.

[Lewkowski]

I don't disagree with your definition of addiction however I'm not certain what your point is.

[ar81]

I don't disagree with your definition of addiction however I'm not certain what your point is.

The problem of defining disease or not is about how happy and functional you are in society.
If things cause harm to your happiness or functionality in your life, you may need help.
Addiction for me is when that line is crossed. And the reasons why addicts do are not the same why enthusiastic people do things.
In addicts, there is a lost connection with other people, so they escape with the addiction.
For example, you were single and loved a videogame and you dedicates 15 days of your life, just sleeping, taking a shower and eating during your vacation. And then you finished the game and went back to normal life. That was enthusiasm.

If you play that game, and keep playing and you dont go to work or university or leave a baby unattended, or something minimal that you must do, there is a problem. It is likely that y are trying to escape.
For example we all like certain foods. But addicts to food just eat fast, do not enjoy the taste of what they eat. So it is not that they enjoy food, they just have a compulsion to eat.