Philosophy of addiction

By sanctioning behavioral addictions the new DSM opens the diagnostic door to the full menu of confessional daytime TV problems: gambling, shopping, eating, playing World of Warcraft, visiting porn sites, chatting online, having sex with dozens of women with teased blonde hair (hello Tiger), getting too many tattoos, hoarding newspapers (addicted to print!), or whatever else comes along. The technology that is the destination for someone's flight from life changes so rapidly that it can never be used to define a diagnosis and resulting treatment. So, instead of hunting for new illnesses we will never be able to find, we should hunt for ways to help specific individuals who went online to solve problems and soothe the hurts that everyone feels sometimes, and ended up getting trapped there.

The proponents of the ‘war on drugs’ are well-intentioned people who believe they are saving people from the nightmare of drug addiction and making the world safer. But this self-image has turned into a faith – and like all faiths, it can only be maintained by cultivating a deliberate blindness to the evidence. The unofficial slogan of the prohibitionists for decades has been: The facts will only undermine the war, so invent some that show how successful we are, fast.

David Clark, Director of Wired In - Some time ago, I wrote a number of articles in my Background Briefing series for Drink and Drugs News that focused on some of the theories of addiction, and some of the factors that are thought to contribute to addictive behaviour. I pointed out that looking at these theories helps us better understand the rationale behind certain therapeutic interventions.

By Leonard Mlodinow, The New York Times - The need for control can inspire great achievements, such as dams, medicines and chocolate soufflés, but it can also lead to sub-optimal behavior... We are currently confronting economic hardship that, though a far cry from the horrors of World War II, has eroded the feeling of self-determination for many of us.

The authors of "Alcoholics Anonymous" - the guide for living life without alcohol, were of a certain era, of a very specific socio-economic group, and had very specific personality problems. Unfortunately, these personality problems are presented as being THE diagnosis for ALL alcoholics. They are not. These particular men used and abused their power which was automatically granted to them by being born into a racist, classist, sexist society which was geared to cater to the needs of individuals exactly like them, at the expense of women, children and people of color.

Many people are very concerned about native American alcoholism — the rate of FAS is many (30!) times as high among native Americans as among Whites. What my site is about — and I believe it applies doubly to Native Americans — is whether telling people they are born with the disease of alcoholism is helpful. I say not.

Nearly all lay people in the U.S. agree that alcoholism is a disease, because that's what is taught in school. But, although 90% of Americans agree with the idea, what this agreement means to them varies all over the place. This depends on personal attitudes and cultural background, among other things. Almost no researchers would simply assent to the idea that alcoholism is a disease, although some are in sympathy with the thrust of this approach.

Alcoholism is treatable, but successful recovery from alcoholism requires active participation of the individual. It is critical that the alcoholic accepts the illness and be willing to manage his or her recovery process, much like anyone with any other chronic illness has to do. Education is essential.

The medical model seems incapable of "curing" this disease, offering instead only life-long treatment combined with abstinence. This paper reviews the existing literature supporting a disease model and then contrasts the benefits and problems with this model against that of viewing alcoholism as a learned behaviour using the paradigm of learning psychology.

Dr. Peele’s view that alcoholism is a personal conduct problem, rather than a disease, seems to be more prevalent among medical practitioners than among the public. A recent Gallop poll found that almost 90 percent of Americans believe that alcoholism is a disease. In contrast, a survey of physicians found that 80 percent of responding doctors perceived alcoholism as simply bad behavior.