...The disease model of addiction describes an addiction as a lifelong disease that involves both biological and environmental sources of origin. The disease model originates from the traditional medical model of disease which states that an individual suffering from a disease has an illness or sickness that causes interruption, cessation, or disorder of bodily functions, systems or organs and must have identifiable signs and symptoms (Gorski, 2001). The contemporary medical model attributes addiction to changes in the brains mesolimbic system and also takes into consideration that the disease may be a result of other biological, psychological, or social entities (Disease model of addiction, 2011). Within the disease model of addiction, it is believed that a genetic predisposition to addiction exists, in addition to the occurrence of some environmental events that increase the likelihood that this predisposition will be sparked. Within the overall concept of the disease model of addiction, there are various specific disease models that concentrate on the specific areas of the disease concept. For example, the medical consequences model focuses on the many biomedical consequences of alcohol and drug use. This model simply focuses on the biological etiology and consequences of drug and alcohol consumption. The bio-psycho-social-spiritual consequences maintenance disease model is much richer than the biomedical consequences model because the concentration is on biological, psychological...
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...Addiction: A Neurological Disorder Addiction is a neurologically based disease. For many years recovery specialists have compared alcoholism or addictions to a physical disease: like diabetes. In reality addictions are more closely related to a neurological disorder like Tourette's Syndrome* than they are to diabetes. If the problems you suffer stem from severe alcoholism or addiction, you must accept that these problems are not primarily mental or free will issues. Addictions are not about will power. The problems facing addicts, alcoholics, and their families are miserable, disgusting, and infuriating. They are often hopelessly discouraging. But to imagine that an addict "could change if he wanted to" is a serious misunderstanding of the long term dynamic of addictive disorder. The fact is precisely that an addict cannot change in the long run even if he wants to! That is the definition of addiction: "the loss of control over the use of a substance." It is important to understand that this loss of control is manifested not in terms of days or weeks, but in longer term behaviors: terms of months and years. The reason addicts have lost control is because they have suffered permanent physical neurological changes based in their brains and nervous systems. The disorder manifests in long term obsessive-compulsive behaviors outside the realm of the addicts own control. It is true enough that the use of chemicals begins with chosen behavior. But if alcoholism or addiction develops...
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...Drug Addiction Crime or Disease? Interim and Final Reports of the Joint Committee of the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association on Narcotic Drugs. INTERIM REPORT For the last half-century public authorities in the United States have been wrestling with the problem of controlling addiction to narcotic drugs. Since the twenties, legislation and enforcement policies have aimed at total repression, with criminal sanctions of notable severity attaching to every transaction connected with the non-medical use of drugs. Drug-law enforcement has become a major police activity of federal, state and local governments; the threat of long imprisonment, even of death penalties, hangs over not only the smuggler and the peddler, but the addict-victim of the illicit traffic. Addiction to narcotic substances has been recognized as a health problem for a long time and in many different countries. It has also in our times and in our national community, emerged as a criminal law problem of distressing magnitude and persistency. The fields of medicine and law are thus equally affected, and the Joint Committee which offers this report has undertaken its assignment with enthusiasm at the prospect of uniting its parent organizations in a common effort centered in an area where the concerns of each overlap and largely coincide. If the Joint Committee can contribute something towards mutual enlightenment and ultimate agreement between the medical and legal professions regarding...
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...Addiction: The Disease HS 101: Addiction Pharmacology & Physiology Instructor: Wanda Urban November 23, 2013 I have often wondered why I turned out the way I did, an addict. I wonder if circumstances in my life influenced or contributed to that first time I decided to alter my state with a drug. Honestly, I don’t think it did. I had a normal childhood, in a loving family. We did not have a lot of money, but we had enough. We ate dinner together every night, we went camping in the summer, and took frequent family vacations. Even though there were no traumatic events to blame, I became an addict. But, I am not alone. A quick Google search will tell you that in 2002 there were an estimated 22 million Americans dependent on or abusing drugs, alcohol or both. That was a staggering number then, and is likely much higher now. Every day the news is full of the ramifications of addiction like drug overdoses, alcohol related accidents, and even death. I wonder how many of the people involved in these situations became addicts because of choice or if they were predisposed to the disease of addiction? There is much debate on whether addiction is a choice or a disease. Hundreds of books, journals and articles have been written on the topic and yet, the verdict is still out. Even in my own family there are conflicting points of view. At the dinner table one person argues it is definitely a choice, another says it is a disease, and yet another says it may very well be a disease...
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...Abigail Denae Lockhart English 101 Dr. Rose November 24, 2014 The Disease of Drug Addiction A major problem in the United States today is the disease of addiction. The disease of addiction is unlike many other diseases, people generally struggle greatly while making an attempt to change for the better. In many cases, the addicts may be clean for a various amount of time, but generally will have a relapse. The media produces tales of inspiration and hope, but also pressure for the addict in various ways. The disease presents various problems with the addict’s behavior, appearance, and attitude. The views of society make it hard for addicts to change, so the addict’s chances of ever being fully clean are slim. Drug addiction is a serious physical and psychological impairment that is very difficult to ever truly recover from. “Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences” (Science of Addiction). Since addiction is labeled as a brain disease, the addict’s brain cannot function properly without the drugs. Drug addicts act on their cravings for the drug, and they do not think about the repercussions of the drugs. The high of a drug is like no other, and they keep coming back for more and more. Other than the fact the person is addicted to drugs, there is many different reasons people abuse drugs. One of the many reasons people start doing drugs is to do better at something...
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...Addiction is a disease of choice as a disorder in the Brain’s Reward (Hedonic) System Dr. McCauley was motivated to analyze the term ‘Disease of Addiction’. The foremost question faced in addictionology, “Is addition really a disease?” It is actually is much more than a disease. Drug addiction deprives brain from the dopamine neurons. Frontal cortex to the midbrain changes and creates the dwindling of the mind with the continued use of drugs. The choice argument states an addict says he cannot stop. Dr. McCauley shows that an addict can stop, by helping them to make the correct choices or making the choice for the addict. The simple experiment cracks me up (normal reaction for an addicted person due to relating to the situation), flooring...
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...Addiction... Crime or Disease? In today's world there is so much going on around us. People can become addicted to many things, it seems silly that people can be addicted to simple things in life like caffeine, or even their cell phone. There has been an argument going on for a little while now asking is addiction a crime or disease when it comes the harder drugs like heroin, meth, or even cocaine. The truth is that addiction to these illegal drugs is a crime and not a disease. Addiction is a crime for many reasons including that people choose to start these drugs, the brain changes after addiction starts, and plenty of other evidence to call addiction to these drugs a crime. Addiction should be a criminal offense, but addicts should...
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...The Disease of Drug Addiction Joanne Frye HSER 340 Abstract Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive seeking and use of addictive substances despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her. Introduction Dramatic advances in science over the past 20 years have shown that drug addiction is a chronic relapsing disease that results from the prolonged effects of drugs on the brain. (Leshner, 1997) It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain structure and how the brain works. (Volkow and Schelbert, 2007) As with many other brain diseases, addiction has embedded behavioral and social-context aspects that are important parts of the disorder itself. Therefore, the most effective treatment approaches will include biological, behavioral, and social-context components. Recognizing addiction as a chronic, relapsing brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use can impact society’s overall health and social policy strategies and help diminish the health and social costs associated with drug abuse and addiction (Leshner, 1997). Addiction as a Disease For decades, the orthodox view in neuroscience and psychiatry has been that addiction is a psychiatric disease (Jellinek, 1960). In 1968 it was included in the second revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, positioning it explicitly as a mental illness for the purpose diagnosis and treatment...
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...Addiction can be defined as an uncontrollable need for or use of a habit-forming substance (“Merriam-Webster”). Addiction is impacted by one’s tolerance and the physiological symptoms that follow when suffering from withdrawal of a substance (“Merriam-Webster”). In our society today, we spend more than $740 billion in relation to crime, lost work productivity, and health care for those who use substances harmfully (“National Institute”). As addiction continues to be a serious problem for many individuals in the US, there continues to be a question: is addiction a disease or a choice made by the own individual (Russell, Davies, & Hunter, 2011)? Disease vs. Choice Addiction as a disease or choice are the most commonly known perspectives to...
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...Addiction as a Chronic Illness Donnell Parker PS370-01 Health Psychology January 17, 2012 Chronic illness refers to conditions that have the following conditions: The condition involves some disability; it is caused by mostly nonreversible pathological change; and it requires training and motivation on the part of the patient to care for himself or herself. The onset of chronic illness can be sudden or gradual, but one characteristic common to all chronic illnesses is that the patient cannot fully return to the pre-illness state of health (Friedman 2002). Some examples of chronic illnesses are AIDS, various forms of cancer, epilepsy and asthma. Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance (alcohol, cocaine, nicotine) or engages in an activity (gambling) that can be pleasurable but the continued use of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work or relationships, even health. Users may not be aware that their behavior is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others (Iliff 2012). Addictions are another form of chronic illnesses. Addictions are characterized by relapses in thinking or a return to substance abuse. Relapse is now seen as the rule rather than the exception in addiction recovery. And it is no longer viewed as a catastrophe but as an opportunity for learning more and better strategies for overcoming urges and for identifying the moods and...
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...Drug Addiction a Disease by Choice “Drug addiction, also called substance use disorder, is a dependence on a legal or illegal drug or medication. Keep in mind that alcohol and nicotine are legal substances, but are also considered drugs.” (Mayo Clinic, “Drug Addiction” 2014, para.1). There needs to be an understanding that addiction is a disease. “When scientists began to study addictive behavior in the 1930s, people addicted to drugs were thought to be morally flawed and lacking willpower”. (National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction” 2014, para.1). This formed society’s reaction to drug abuse, treating it as a choice not a disease. In today’s world scientist have changed our views on addiction. The findings about the brain have given scientists an understanding on addiction. The initial choice to try drugs is intentional for most people, but overtime the brain changes and a person’s self-control hinder their ability to resist impulses to use drugs. “Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Drugs Abuse, and Addiction” 2014, para.1). Drugs change the brains structure and how it works. Drugs contain different chemicals that interfere with communication in the brain; such as sending, receiving and processing information. Drugs such as marijuana have similar chemicals as messengers in the brain...
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...Addiction: Disease, or Self-Inflicted Destruction? Drug addiction is a large problem in today’s society. There’s an ongoing debate on whether drug addiction is a choice or if it is truly a disease. Addiction is a sickness because it is common among people who suffer from mental illness, it is an actual brain disease due to the lack of dopamine in certain individuals and, it is damaging the body without the abuser even knowing. however, most people believe it is a choice because the first time somebody agrees to just try it once they are hooked for life. People who suffer from drug addictions brains are severely affected. Drug “ addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use” (Is...
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...will cut themselves off from society, because their addiction becomes greater than fear. The addict is left living a life of isolation rather than community. While someone who isn't suffering gains protection. The Ill no matter their diagnoses should receive the same remedy. Addiction isn’t a choice and they’re constantly growing. Researcher Gene Heyman illustrates in his journal that “A normal choice process can lead to addiction, arguing that people do not choose to be addicts, but that normal choice dynamics can lead them to that condition. He points to a variety of factors that keep most from becoming addicted”(Heyman). These individuals are just trying to live with their mental disability and not be abandoned. People with addictions do have the same right to be free from discrimination as anyone else with a disability or...
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...What is Addiction? Addiction is a condition in which a person is unable, without help, to stop from repeating a harmful behavior. While the behavior may not itself be harmful, it is the extent to which the behavior is repeated, as the “using episodes” become more frequent, intense, and severe over time. Typically the behaviors associated with an addiction become physically and psychologically harmful to the person doing them, and often to others as well. The compulsion to repeat the behavior is often accompanied by thoughts which drive the person to continue the behavior, despite them having objective knowledge that the behavior should not be done. The consequences of the addictive behavior usually become more and more serious over time too. The disease model of addiction explains the physical changes in the brain that occur as a result of a person who behaves in an addictive manner. Research has shown that there are biochemical pathways which clearly account for the effects that an addictive behavior or substance has on the body. There are specific chemicals, called neurotransmitters, which are released in the brain as a result of an addiction and these chemicals, such as dopamine, have been found to cause predictable reactions in the way the person experiences extreme pleasure. The addict, however, feels more intensely than a non-addicted person would feel in the similar experience. As a result of this powerful and pleasant sensation, addicts are driven to repeat...
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...Wounds of Sexual Addiction Michelle Beel Liberty University Psych 307 Summary Dr. Mark Lasser’s book “Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction” gives insight to those who suffer from sexual addiction and to the families, friends and other people in their lives. Dr. Mark Lasser has chosen to write this book, to share with others his personal struggle and victory with sexual addiction. Dr. Lasser has written this book from a Christian view, to give other individuals hope in a difficult and growing disease, which is taking control and destroying our families. Lasser defines sexual addiction as “a sickness involving any type of uncontrollable sexual activity, and because the addict cannot control his or her sexual behavior negative consequences eventually result.” (Lasser, 2004, pp 23) Lasser goes on to state that this secret sin has existed for years, since the beginning of time, and it still to this day continues to be “misnamed, mistreated, ignored or completely misdiagnosed, and even though it has wounded, killed and humiliated countless individuals people still believe it doesn’t exist”(Lasser, 2004, pp 15) Lasser describes sexual addiction as a “secret sin which grows from seeds planted in childhood and symptoms go undetected for years” (Lasser, 2004, pp 15), being that this is seen as normal developmental phase, going untreated it becomes worse over time, having grave consequences on the individual. Dr. Lasser further points out; sexual addiction is at an increase...
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