Addiction: choice or disease?

elizabeth wrote: I think from personal experience is starts as a choice then becomes an addiction, kinda creeps up on you.
However on the idea of choices, if you think about it, there are many choices we make and are influenced by upbringing and other things, that when you drink or take that first drug, how much of the choice is a conscious decision and not a series of influences/past decisions that make it (the choice) actually a reaction not a decision.
NOt sure thats understandable

I agree , thats why i uttered : Where is my choice if i already was addicted to nicotine because all people smoked in the house since i was a baby up to the age i left the house ?

MartaLina wrote:

elizabeth wrote: I think from personal experience is starts as a choice then becomes an addiction, kinda creeps up on you.
However on the idea of choices, if you think about it, there are many choices we make and are influenced by upbringing and other things, that when you drink or take that first drug, how much of the choice is a conscious decision and not a series of influences/past decisions that make it (the choice) actually a reaction not a decision.
NOt sure thats understandable

I agree , thats why i uttered : Where is my choice if i already was addicted to nicotine because all people smoked in the house since i was a baby up to the age i left the house ?

Some times we dont get choices ,they are made for us, yours came when you decided to act or not act .
It was all up to ... U!

The choice and responsibility is always ours alone for everything we do.

I just think its interesting to look at how we make that choice and what is behind our decision.

I dont agree that because things go on around us we dont have a choice. Personal life has shown that you are not automatically addicted just because parents smoke around you
Thats putting your responsibility onto others. It is solely a person's choice.

elizabeth wrote: The choice and responsibility is always ours alone for everything we do.

I just think its interesting to look at how we make that choice and what is behind our decision.

I dont agree that because things go on around us we dont have a choice. Personal life has shown that you are not automatically addicted just because parents smoke around you
Thats putting your responsibility onto others. It is solely a person's choice.

I understand , so staying addicted is my responsibilty , sounds fair indeed , thats what i gathered from the other comments aswell

it is also your choice to cease it when you are aware of an addiction. Not an easy path but one that can be walked.

MartaLina wrote:

elizabeth wrote: The choice and responsibility is always ours alone for everything we do.

I just think its interesting to look at how we make that choice and what is behind our decision.

I dont agree that because things go on around us we dont have a choice. Personal life has shown that you are not automatically addicted just because parents smoke around you
Thats putting your responsibility onto others. It is solely a person's choice.

I understand , so staying addicted is my responsibilty , sounds fair indeed , thats what i gathered from the other comments aswell

...,choice not responsibility, big difference !

You take responsibility for the choices you make in life.
Your responsible for the consequences of your choices.

In addictions I tend to think choice and responsibility are intertwined.
And you cant choose to change without facing personal responsibility for your actions. so its a relationship between the words

I'm just going to leave this TED talk from Dr. Carl Hart of Columbia University titled, "Let's Quit Abusing Drug Users"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9HMifCoSko

but i am still addicted if you know what i mean

Just reading this thread makes me want to have one, so yeah....



Anyway, whilst I am in "control" of that addiction, there are others I am still a slave to.

Is it my choice? Yes. Every time, I choose it.

I can say that the choice is made for me, or that at the point when I "make the call" I have no other choices (that I can see anyway, it's easy for an outsider to spot the other choices. Must be in my blindspots )

None the less. It's my choice. Again and again.






It had be better be my choice anyway, I'd hate to be reaping the consequences of someone else's bad decisions :laugh:

Hmmmmm, about addicition, dunno if disease is the right word. I'd hate to call it food, but if your body needs it!? I've heard it called medicine, because its stops the pain of withdrawal. Its a choice if you created it.

So whether its a disease or not might depend on the negative impact it has, and disease might be the best word under that circumstance - especially during physical symptoms of withdrawal. But then the ongoing non-use persistence might be better called taste or appetite!! And if you cannot partake for health reasons, then it might be better called a disorder then a disease. But I have to agree its a choice as well, to ingratiate or create it (unless one is born with it).

But yea to the OP, there can be many reasons why someone starts habitual use of a substance, and if that substance happens to create a physiological dependency then I still think it boils down to the choice of that person. The only circumstance where I wouldn't say it was choice was when they had no other choice!! That said, I don't think it has to be one or the other, but could be a combination of factors. I'm not sure how those factors will accelerate or retard the onset of physiological dependence, as I would have assumed that would relate to frequency of use, dose strength and genetic susceptibility. Certainly those factors though would change the context and therefore frequency and intensity of use.