Drug/Alcohol Addiction a Disease or a Choice?

Steinhauer said:
I don't think it is a disease - rather - a learned behaviour. I have a friend who is a recovering alcoholic. His father is also an alcoholic.


He was adopted.
Click to expand...

Wrong . When my oldest sister had her baby the doctor told my sister that her baby could have a drinking problem . My sister DID NOT drink during while pregnant , she did drink when she was younger and not married . My dad family had a long line of alcoholic. Sadly the DR. was right , my niece did not see anyone get drunk while growing up she drank b/c it is a disease and it pass down from one generation to the next.
http://alcoholism.about.com/od/professionals/l/blnaa08.htm
 
Used to think addicts were being sissies With bad choices 100 percent. Atfer few years in mental health field ill say its disease that affects thought process just like people with mental illness. I still have some feelings of prejudice of them being sissies with certain clients 95 percent being diseasr while 5 percent being sissy. But not all. It does impair the sane common sense non addict would make making it a disease.
 
I think I feel this way because I didn't ask for my stuff to get stolen again and again. My family and the kids have become victims of their diseases. It is costing us money and a little bit of stress.

As for my brothers, the reason my they are cut iff is because they were harassing me to allow them to move from AZ to live with me. I made the mistake of letting one stay with me because he claimed to have a job out here. Turned out he didn't and he attracted unsavory people to my house. I didn't feel safe and my son was 2 at the time. I can't allow them around my son while high and engage in dangerous behaviors.

I got sick of them and those who stole our stuff make excuses for their behaviors by saying that they can't help it because of their disease. Used to have empathy but it has run out.

That's why I wonder if it is something they have or have no control over at all. oh well
 
Reba said:
Drug and alcohol use start out as a choice. Because of the way drugs and alcohol interact with the human body, they can become an addiction. Even then, it's not a disease. It's a consequence of bad choices.

My father was an alcoholic. He died way before his time from an alcohol-destroyed liver.

I have a nephew who is destroying his life with drugs.

Calling addiction a "disease" does no favors to anyone, including the addict.
Click to expand...

Do you think by calling it a disease , it enables many of them to make excuses for their behaviors?

Two years ago, I would have said that they can't help it and it is not their fault but after hearing excuse after excuse by using the word, "disease" it made me wonder if it is really a choice not to get clean. Like they think, "Oh I have a disease...so I will do this or that without any consequences."
 
I do have some sympathy for people who have addictions. However, I still get really angry when innocent people get hurt because they needed to be high.

The law does not treat drug/alcohol abusers as having a disease. You can't get a ticket for driving while having cancer, diabetes etc. but you can get arrested for being an addict.
 
Angel1989 said:
I do have some sympathy for people who have addictions. However, I still get really angry when innocent people get hurt because they needed to be high.

The law does not treat drug/alcohol abusers as having a disease. You can't get a ticket for driving while having cancer, diabetes etc. but you can get arrested for being an addict.
Click to expand...

Seems like the consequences aren't enough for many of them. One guy said that because his family stopped giving him money to support his "disease" so he has to go out and steal because his disease is making him do it. That just makes me so furious.

I am just tired of replacing our things. At first, it was oh no but after 3 times, I am fed up. That's not including my SUV that was almost paid off getting stolen. As a result I had to get an used car and start all over again with the car payments. That pisses me off.
 
I think it starts as a choice and turns into a disease. Not many are forced to take any if these substances. We all can choose. But it gets to point we cant let go anymore and thats when it becomes a "disease".
 
God, so many factors go into what stage a condition becomes a disease, drugs are more potent than alcohol, since a disease is perceived as damage to the body by natural means, drugs and alcohol is a kind of man made consequence that mimics the natural consequence. It 's really best not to start, or you will forever become neurologically wired to it, that's why it's harder to undo.
 
Bottesini said:
Yes it can help. My father's father was an alcoholic, who also died young from it.

My father was adamant that it is a disease, and that people who have this gene should avoid alcohol and drugs, because even a little could send them down this path.

So far knowing this has worked out well in my family.
Click to expand...

Yup! That is why I never drank we have the genes in my family . I broken the pattern of abuse too , it took a woman to do it. My dad could not stop it or could his dad etc. .
 
There are also people who drink and say, "Oh, it's a disease, just like diabetes or cancer, so I should be treated just like those people."

Yes, as a "disease," their addiction becomes something that is protected by the ADA and other laws. As a disease, in certain occupations, they can't be fired for their addiction. As a disease, it doesn't seem so bad, and much of the urgency to overcome it isn't there.

IMO

Yes, the chemicals of addictive drugs and alcohol affect the brain, just like poisons do. That doesn't make it a disease because those chemicals are introduced to the body, they aren't produced by the body. In other words, if a person doesn't expose his or her body/brain to those chemicals, then no addiction occurs.

Really, ever since alcoholism has been declared a "disease," has the problem gone down in numbers?

Changing labels doesn't solve anything. Behaviors have to be changed.
 
Lets say the theory of it being a disease is correct and that it runs in families. It runs in my dad's family but I didn't become an alcoholic despite it being strong in my dad's family. I knew that there were consequences to drinking too much especially on a daily basis. I don't want that kind of poor quality of life. I could have easily become severely addicted to alcohol after the trauma I went through with my daughter moving away to AZ but I chose not to.

That's why I wonder if it is a choice. People are more educated about the dangers of taking too many pills, drinking too much, and trying drugs but yet they do it and then they say that everyone is entitled to helping them because they have a disease.

It just makes me mad when they use it as an excuse for the choices they have made in their lives.
 
it's their choice, not a disease. Its the depression that causes them to drive up to drinking more. Its a choice that they chose to an easy short cut out. I do have many addiction in my relatives. I don't feel sorry for them to act like that because they wanted to drink. They don't want to deal with the tough paths. basically, it is the same thing for smokers.
 
Reba said:
There are also people who drink and say, "Oh, it's a disease, just like diabetes or cancer, so I should be treated just like those people."

Yes, the chemicals of addictive drugs and alcohol affect the brain, just like poisons do. That doesn't make it a disease because those chemicals are introduced to the body, they aren't produced by the body. In other words, if a person doesn't expose his or her body/brain to those chemicals, then no addiction occurs.

Really, ever since alcoholism has been declared a "disease," has the problem gone down in numbers?

Changing labels doesn't solve anything. Behaviors have to be changed.
Click to expand...


Cancers are caused by chemicals exposed to the body. So is a bite transmitted by a mosquito causing malaria. Its all chemical reaction happening in the body Its a natural reaction at the end of the day it is still a chemical reaction. No matter how it was introduced though.

Agreed about behaviors that needs to be changed. Learning to deal and cope with the addiction is a learning curve for each individual.

There is no excuses for criminal behavior. Why do some addicts steal not others? Just the same in society why some people in general and not others. At the end of the day addicts still need to learn the appropriate way to respond to the affected parts of the brain.

The excuses just gets old. I explain if one truly had no control of their actions why didnt they do more criminal behavior being out of control and mindless like a zombie. There still is a degree of control.
 
Reba said:
There are also people who drink and say, "Oh, it's a disease, just like diabetes or cancer, so I should be treated just like those people."

Yes, as a "disease," their addiction becomes something that is protected by the ADA and other laws. As a disease, in certain occupations, they can't be fired for their addiction. As a disease, it doesn't seem so bad, and much of the urgency to overcome it isn't there.

IMO

Yes, the chemicals of addictive drugs and alcohol affect the brain, just like poisons do. That doesn't make it a disease because those chemicals are introduced to the body, they aren't produced by the body. In other words, if a person doesn't expose his or her body/brain to those chemicals, then no addiction occurs.

Really, ever since alcoholism has been declared a "disease," has the problem gone down in numbers?

Changing labels doesn't solve anything. Behaviors have to be changed.
Click to expand...

I have not heard one person use that as an excuse to drink. I heard of a person blaming someone else for getting drunk , they would look for a person
or situation to use as an excuse to get drunk. My dad never said he had an 'disease' and that it making him get drunk . Dad would blame us kids or a
person to go get his bottle vodka or whiskey and get drunk .
I posted that when my sister's baby was born her doctor said her baby could have a drinking problem . She was a baby and had the genes that been pasted down from my dad family . There was generations of drunks on dad side. My sister did NOT drink when she was pregnant and her husband does not drink but their baby was born with a risk of becoming an alcoholic
and sadly she has a drinking problem . I knew if I started to drank it would be very hard to stop b/c of my dad family history . I meant insurances may not help with the cost of rehab if the was not called a 'disease'
I do not know has help cut down the number ,but calling it a 'disease '
has not increase the numbers . I had not heard one think on the news about that happening. People that drink never blame themselves for their drinking
they blame other people ., When my dad got too mad to eat he was blame the family .
 
Jabberwocky said:
Cancers are caused by chemicals exposed to the body. So is a bite transmitted by a mosquito causing malaria. Its all chemical reaction happening in the body Its a natural reaction at the end of the day it is still a chemical reaction. No matter how it was introduced though….
Click to expand...
An addict voluntarily ingests or uses the drugs and alcohol. It's a behavior choice. It does make a difference as to how it is introduced.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I have not heard one person use that as an excuse to drink. I heard of a person blaming someone else for getting drunk , they would look for a person
or situation to use as an excuse to get drunk.
Click to expand...
Well, I have heard people use that excuse. I also know people who do NOT blame other people for their addictions.

My dad never said he had an 'disease' and that it making him get drunk . Dad would blame us kids or a
person to go get his bottle vodka or whiskey and get drunk .
Click to expand...
My dad was an alcoholic and I never heard him blame anyone else for his drinking.

I posted that when my sister's baby was born her doctor said her baby could have a drinking problem . She was a baby and had the genes that been pasted down from my dad family . There was generations of drunks on dad side. My sister did NOT drink when she was pregnant and her husband does not drink but their baby was born with a risk of becoming an alcoholic
and sadly she has a drinking problem .
Click to expand...
Your niece didn't have a drinking problem until she picked up her first alcoholic drink and ingested it, did she?

Anyone can become an alcoholic with or without a family history of drinking problems. There are people from alcoholic families who don't become drinkers, and there are people from families with no alcohol history who do become drinkers. It's not the genes they have in common; it's the action of drinking alcohol.

I knew if I started to drank it would be very hard to stop b/c of my dad family history.
Click to expand...
That shows that you made a conscious decision--a choice.

I meant insurances may not help with the cost of rehab if the was not called a 'disease'
Click to expand...
Maybe, maybe not. It probably depends on the policy and the program.

I do not know has help cut down the number ,but calling it a 'disease' has not increase the numbers . I had not heard one think on the news about that happening. People that drink never blame themselves for their drinking
they blame other people ., When my dad got too mad to eat he was blame the family .
Click to expand...
My dad didn't blame his drinking on other people, and my nephew doesn't blame his drug use on other people. Why? Because they see/saw nothing wrong with what they're doing, so they there is not blame factor. There are addicted people who don't see anything wrong with their choices or lifestyles. They have no motivation to change their ways.
 
Back
Top