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Addiction: choice or disease?
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7 years 3 months ago #270657
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Is it? Maybe , maybe not , i think the answer is always more complicated then the question , as with so many ponderings :blink:
Replied by on topic Addiction: choice or disease?
baru wrote: So it is a choice?
Is it? Maybe , maybe not , i think the answer is always more complicated then the question , as with so many ponderings :blink:
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7 years 3 months ago - 7 years 3 months ago #270735
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I'm using a spoiler tag because it is a little long.
I'm in the hospital a lot due to my own health issues. I meet lots of people who suffer from addiction. The biggest issue is addiction is not always drug related. People tend to down-play things like gambling or sex addicts. But addiction comes in 2 forms, physical and mental. Both need addressed as early as possible.
One of my brothers is a sex addict and alcoholic. For him it is a coping mechanism (for his PTSD). I think early intervention is key in this kind of situation. Show people who are addicted that there are better ways to deal with their problems. I know to someone who is not an addict has a hard time seeing this because it seems intuitive.. but a lot of addicts really don't have coping mechanisms that most people take for granted.
Others suffer from the genetic side. Some people are genetically easier to become dependent on a drug. These people can develop secondary addictions as a coping mechanism. But normally they are the ones addicted to prescription drugs. I think these people have it the hardest because genetics can't change as easily as the mind. I think the best way to help is accountability. If someone you know has a narcotic prescription from chronic pain or surgery, keep an eye on them. If something doesn't seem right, check in on them. Hold them accountable for missing pills and if you need, get them some professional help. The longer they have the problem, the harder it is to deal with.
The other group tend to get addicted young. They try a drug and like it and try it again and ge hooked. Talking to and educating young people i think is the best thing to do. If you have kids it might be a good idea to take them to see how sever addiction really can be. I know every place works different, but when I was in high school some of use convinced the school to to a field trip (for every health class). They would go to a recovery clinic and see it first hand.
For a lot of people addiction just seems like a problem for "other people". If we could address that, I think it would really help. If you can't do these things, you can at least advocate for better treatment funding.
"I would like to see that we are very aware of our ow actions ( not smoke around kids , keep them from medicines , not give them painkillers for every little pain and neglegt the cause etc etc)" I agree with this part 100% tempting people or showing them these are ok with our actions have a bigger effect than people realize.
Replied by on topic Addiction: choice or disease?
MartaLina wrote:
AveryR1988 wrote: Why should we limit what "kind" of issue it? I mean we know it's an issue, I think the better question is... what can we do about addiction as individuals and as a society?
I dont know really , what are your suggestions?
I would like to see that we are very aware of our ow actions ( not smoke around kids , keep them from medicines , not give them painkillers for every little pain and neglegt the cause etc etc) being the hands on person in real life that i am i welcome any tips into handling this.
I'm using a spoiler tag because it is a little long.
Warning: Spoiler!
I'm in the hospital a lot due to my own health issues. I meet lots of people who suffer from addiction. The biggest issue is addiction is not always drug related. People tend to down-play things like gambling or sex addicts. But addiction comes in 2 forms, physical and mental. Both need addressed as early as possible.
One of my brothers is a sex addict and alcoholic. For him it is a coping mechanism (for his PTSD). I think early intervention is key in this kind of situation. Show people who are addicted that there are better ways to deal with their problems. I know to someone who is not an addict has a hard time seeing this because it seems intuitive.. but a lot of addicts really don't have coping mechanisms that most people take for granted.
Others suffer from the genetic side. Some people are genetically easier to become dependent on a drug. These people can develop secondary addictions as a coping mechanism. But normally they are the ones addicted to prescription drugs. I think these people have it the hardest because genetics can't change as easily as the mind. I think the best way to help is accountability. If someone you know has a narcotic prescription from chronic pain or surgery, keep an eye on them. If something doesn't seem right, check in on them. Hold them accountable for missing pills and if you need, get them some professional help. The longer they have the problem, the harder it is to deal with.
The other group tend to get addicted young. They try a drug and like it and try it again and ge hooked. Talking to and educating young people i think is the best thing to do. If you have kids it might be a good idea to take them to see how sever addiction really can be. I know every place works different, but when I was in high school some of use convinced the school to to a field trip (for every health class). They would go to a recovery clinic and see it first hand.
For a lot of people addiction just seems like a problem for "other people". If we could address that, I think it would really help. If you can't do these things, you can at least advocate for better treatment funding.
"I would like to see that we are very aware of our ow actions ( not smoke around kids , keep them from medicines , not give them painkillers for every little pain and neglegt the cause etc etc)" I agree with this part 100% tempting people or showing them these are ok with our actions have a bigger effect than people realize.
Last edit: 7 years 3 months ago by .
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7 years 3 months ago #270924
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Replied by on topic Addiction: choice or disease?
If I choose to "take drugs" or do anything that I am addicted to, then its a choice?
I have a choice to call my addition a disease or just a choice or a habit that is no longer working for me?
I have a choice to call my addition a disease or just a choice or a habit that is no longer working for me?
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7 years 3 months ago #270959
by Tellahane
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"Do or Do Not, There is No Talk!" -Me
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Replied by Tellahane on topic Addiction: choice or disease?
I've always maintained that its a matter of choice. I have started some long angry discussions and ticked a few people off by saying that but ultimately it is. Having gone through some rough times myself and a severe depression later, I couldn't make heads or tails of it, couldn't process it, couldn't get away from it, that common feeling of helplessness and the unable to conquer it feeling that majority of people have when they have depression or addiction or both.
Ultimately it still came down to choice, the day I ended my depression wasn't because I suddenly decided to end it, it was me finally coming to the realization of why I was choosing to be depressed, and then choosing to not let that reason affect my life anymore.
So In the end I say, it is choice, but its understanding the choice that is the most difficult part, until that is done one can't break out from it.
I've also heard and said it myself during my own experiences "well I understand it, I just can't do anything about it". The truth of that for me is I may know what the choice was, but I did not understand it like I believed I did, it was until I truly did that I then broke free of it.
One of those you will know it when you know it kinda situations. But thats all based on my personal experience, I know of a few others who agreed but its hard to say that works 100% of the time for everyone. There are some who never break free but is that because they never understand or some other reason I don't understand.
Ultimately it still came down to choice, the day I ended my depression wasn't because I suddenly decided to end it, it was me finally coming to the realization of why I was choosing to be depressed, and then choosing to not let that reason affect my life anymore.
So In the end I say, it is choice, but its understanding the choice that is the most difficult part, until that is done one can't break out from it.
I've also heard and said it myself during my own experiences "well I understand it, I just can't do anything about it". The truth of that for me is I may know what the choice was, but I did not understand it like I believed I did, it was until I truly did that I then broke free of it.
One of those you will know it when you know it kinda situations. But thats all based on my personal experience, I know of a few others who agreed but its hard to say that works 100% of the time for everyone. There are some who never break free but is that because they never understand or some other reason I don't understand.
-Simply Jedi
"Do or Do Not, There is No Talk!" -Me
Tellahane's Initiate Journal
Tellahane's Apprenticeship Journal
Tellahane's Holocron Document
Tellahane's Knight Journal
Tellahane's Degree Journal
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7 years 3 months ago - 7 years 3 months ago #270961
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Replied by on topic Addiction: choice or disease?
The essential, central point of addiction is that what starts as a choice, eventually becomes unchosen - our capacity to choose NOT to do it diminishes.
So whilst the precursors to addiction are often (not always) choices, addiction itself is fundamentally not a choice.
Is it a disease? That's another debate, really: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-heart-addiction/201112/is-addiction-really-disease]https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-heart-addiction/201112/is-addiction-really-disease
It's currently more usually defined as a disorder, for example: https://www.livescience.com/15563-addiction-defined-brain-disease.html
So whilst the precursors to addiction are often (not always) choices, addiction itself is fundamentally not a choice.
Is it a disease? That's another debate, really: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-heart-addiction/201112/is-addiction-really-disease]https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-heart-addiction/201112/is-addiction-really-disease
It's currently more usually defined as a disorder, for example: https://www.livescience.com/15563-addiction-defined-brain-disease.html
Last edit: 7 years 3 months ago by .
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7 years 3 months ago #272147
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Spot on. Addiction is a mother fluffer. It started for me medically. I broke my back in 7 places when i was 22. Had three back surguries each one causing worse pain for me then the other....eventually I got hooked to not only numbing the pain but numbing the ails of life around me. Eventually the morphine and the oxys werent enough. Didnt even take the edgr of the pain away....
Id blow through a months supply in 10 days. I was up to 15 oxys and 10 morphines a day. I literally wanted to just die. I was ready for it. The fucked up thing is I have a wife and kid... still didnt care.
Then I started branching out. Meeting Mr. Brownstone in dark allies. Dealong with elements I swore growing up watching my brother do... thst I would never do. But there I was... accepting it. Looking in my daughter's eyes and telling her I love her all the while killing myself in the process. Spending thousands of dollars on shit that is only making me sick. Rotting my teeth. Filling me with HATE for the world.
Over this past summer I lost feeling on half of my face. My blood pressure was 190/140... They couldnt find a stroke and said it was bells pallsy. I dodged a bullet. After three days in the hospital I told myself... its time to change. I dont want to die.
A week later im high again and not giving a shit about the world. The epitome of the darkside. I just wanted to lie in bed and die.
It starts off as a choice... And then you get infected from the disease of the darkside. And the deeper and longer you dwell... the more of yourself you lose. Your no longer light or dark... you are nothing. Nothing at all. Drugs bring one thing to you... indifference. You literally do not give a shit about anything but when and where your next hit will come from.
Ive decided to not live that way anymore. I have finally reach that point where im ready to change. And I know a physical pill is not going to fix that imbalance in my thought process. I truly believe that medication is Jediism. Ive made a choicr to dedicate and live my life on the light side of the force and prosper in sobriety.
That glorious day was 3 days ago......
Replied by on topic Addiction: choice or disease?
Goken wrote: It starts with a choice, but it becomes a disease. For example, I cannot develop alcoholism or get addicted to cigarettes if I choose to never drink alcohol or smoke a cigarette. But once I do those things stopping is not as simple as saying "no more for me thanks." I will have developed an actual chemical dependence. You can choose to quit, but it's rarely that easy once the choice is made. It's like choosing to cure yourself of a disease, you can choose to fight it through various means but you can't simply will yourself to not actually be sick right then and there.
Spot on. Addiction is a mother fluffer. It started for me medically. I broke my back in 7 places when i was 22. Had three back surguries each one causing worse pain for me then the other....eventually I got hooked to not only numbing the pain but numbing the ails of life around me. Eventually the morphine and the oxys werent enough. Didnt even take the edgr of the pain away....
Id blow through a months supply in 10 days. I was up to 15 oxys and 10 morphines a day. I literally wanted to just die. I was ready for it. The fucked up thing is I have a wife and kid... still didnt care.
Then I started branching out. Meeting Mr. Brownstone in dark allies. Dealong with elements I swore growing up watching my brother do... thst I would never do. But there I was... accepting it. Looking in my daughter's eyes and telling her I love her all the while killing myself in the process. Spending thousands of dollars on shit that is only making me sick. Rotting my teeth. Filling me with HATE for the world.
Over this past summer I lost feeling on half of my face. My blood pressure was 190/140... They couldnt find a stroke and said it was bells pallsy. I dodged a bullet. After three days in the hospital I told myself... its time to change. I dont want to die.
A week later im high again and not giving a shit about the world. The epitome of the darkside. I just wanted to lie in bed and die.
It starts off as a choice... And then you get infected from the disease of the darkside. And the deeper and longer you dwell... the more of yourself you lose. Your no longer light or dark... you are nothing. Nothing at all. Drugs bring one thing to you... indifference. You literally do not give a shit about anything but when and where your next hit will come from.
Ive decided to not live that way anymore. I have finally reach that point where im ready to change. And I know a physical pill is not going to fix that imbalance in my thought process. I truly believe that medication is Jediism. Ive made a choicr to dedicate and live my life on the light side of the force and prosper in sobriety.
That glorious day was 3 days ago......
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7 years 3 months ago #272156
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Replied by on topic Addiction: choice or disease?
This has been very interesting. I've spent the last two weeks talking to people recovering from Heroin addiction, and talking to family members all for an article I'm writing. It's been very heartbreaking, seeing all the stories I've seen and heard, and the desperation in some to get away from it. My sister a few weeks ago lost one of her uncles to an OD. Others in West Virginia and Ohio have also been hit hard. The paper I'm writing for, lost two of their homeless vendors just a few weeks ago. It's just heartbreaking all around. For those of you recovering or struggling, my thoughts are with you.
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7 years 3 months ago #272251
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Replied by on topic Addiction: choice or disease?
I've been in recovery from addiction to Spice/K-2 for nearly four years (please don't call it "fake weed", Cannabis is a wonderful yet misaligned plant). From my own personal experience, Addiction is simply itself - attempting to categorize it as a choice or disease fails to accurately capture the hell that is addiction. Did I choose to smoke that life wrecker the first time? Yes, and many times after that. However, was a mental disorder rooted in substance abuse part of the problem? Yes, definitely - I've got a genetic predisposition for it.
I certainly believe that in order to solve a problem you need to be able to define it, but ultimately solutions are more important. We can figure out fairly quickly which solutions work for folks by their results. Either they help continue Recovery (a truly never-ending process) or they cause Relapse (an unfortunate reality). For my part, I find the community-based approaches to addiction therapy the most successful. Addiction is, ultimately, an isolating behavior. You start to cut people off in your life who don't use, and you start to view yourself as disconnected from everyone around you. Part of you feels guilty, and that turns into a form of self-hatred which just eats away at you as a person.
Re-establishing that sense of connection is so vital to recovery. Making you feel supported and welcome, those are two of the greatest gifts an addict can receive. Now, they have to choose to stop using, and start building new coping strategies for the trauma they're dealing with. I've yet to meet a single addict who wasn't dealing with some kind of trauma through self-medication gone awry. For me, it's been the PTSD from growing up in a home with two-way domestic abuse. My parents were verbally and physically abusive in front of me and my siblings. To this day, I sometimes hear my mother's voice play back in my head accusing my father of obscene behavior, for example. Yet, I don't use drugs as a way of silencing those voices anymore. It was a conscious choice on my part to stop using, but I wouldn't have been able to derive the strength to quit without my wife there to support me the whole way.
I certainly believe that in order to solve a problem you need to be able to define it, but ultimately solutions are more important. We can figure out fairly quickly which solutions work for folks by their results. Either they help continue Recovery (a truly never-ending process) or they cause Relapse (an unfortunate reality). For my part, I find the community-based approaches to addiction therapy the most successful. Addiction is, ultimately, an isolating behavior. You start to cut people off in your life who don't use, and you start to view yourself as disconnected from everyone around you. Part of you feels guilty, and that turns into a form of self-hatred which just eats away at you as a person.
Re-establishing that sense of connection is so vital to recovery. Making you feel supported and welcome, those are two of the greatest gifts an addict can receive. Now, they have to choose to stop using, and start building new coping strategies for the trauma they're dealing with. I've yet to meet a single addict who wasn't dealing with some kind of trauma through self-medication gone awry. For me, it's been the PTSD from growing up in a home with two-way domestic abuse. My parents were verbally and physically abusive in front of me and my siblings. To this day, I sometimes hear my mother's voice play back in my head accusing my father of obscene behavior, for example. Yet, I don't use drugs as a way of silencing those voices anymore. It was a conscious choice on my part to stop using, but I wouldn't have been able to derive the strength to quit without my wife there to support me the whole way.
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