Addiction as Brain Disorder – A Flawed Model Addiction is the result of a gradual accretion of neurological tendencies based upon the ingestion of a particular substance or the taking of a particular action. It is cumulative, building over time, and varies in strength from individual to individual based on their own abilities to exercise willpower over themselves and their actions. Some people become addicted more easily than others. In the end, addiction is the result of a series of choices made by the individual. These choices usually have a massive impact upon the life of the person, modifying their friendships, family life, professional life and psychological/spiritual well being. The cumulative aspect of addiction is built up by an individual willfully choosing to either not see the direction they are heading in or to not take action even though they sense themselves following the path of an addict. Some kind of deterioration in their life is bound to take place, and willful ignorance is all that could keep one from noticing that. Likewise, addiction can he helped and cured by an individual choosing to do something different, to adjust their habitual reliance on a specific substance or action for pleasure or escape or whatever quality they are searching for. Only the individual can make that choice, but once they have made that choice other people and institutions can help them. The usage and addiction rate of most illegal drugs has not increased recently, and in many cases has declined. The exception to this is Marijuana, being the only Illegal drug who has seen an increase in usage over the years. The usage of Marijuana has, as a matter of fact, skewed the results of usage surveys to make it seem as if the overall usage ... ... middle of paper ... ...them, “You have a neurological disease and we have medication which can help you!” This is highly destructive to the psychology of the individual and could rend them completely irresponsible for their own feelings and behavior. The connotations of the allowance of such dogma within the science community is mind blowing and terrifying. Works Cited 1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings [Data File]. Available From http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k11Results/NSDUHresults2011.htm Kuhn, Thomas (1961). The Function of Dogma in Scientific Research. Retrieved from http://strangebeautiful.com/other-texts/kuhn-function-dogma.pdf 2. Reinarman, Craig (2004). Addiction as accomplishment: The discursive construction of disease. Addiction Research and Study, August, 2005, 13(4): 307–320
There are various approaches to addiction I will be comparing the behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches to see which provides the most compelling explanation of addiction. The behaviourist approach states change in behaviour happens due to past experiences and our actions are a result of the environment. (Glassman and Hadad, 2013). The environment in which we exist makes us act in a certain way for example, seeing people around us do acts like smoking and gambling may make an individual want to participate in those acts (Gross,2015). The psychodynamic approach on the other hand claims behaviour is determined by the unconscious mind and our actions have a motive behind them, which reflect our early childhood experiences (Gross, 2015).
“If the field of addictions is to mature as have other domains of science, we must diligently work toward conceptual clarity” (Freed, 2012). There are many models or theories that attempt to explain addiction. Some refer to addiction as a disease while others find addiction to be a moral issue. I have selected four models that I find to be most interesting.
Retrieved from Anatomy of Addictions: www.pcij.org/i-report/2006/addictions.html. Stanton Peele. (1988) The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Major Contemporary Perspectives on Addiction and Alcoholism.
There are distinctly underactive areas in an addicts brain which cause a need to “self medicate” in order to feel normal. By definition a disease is any abnormality relating to the dysfunction of a specific organ. Addiction is created in the “Central-brain”, which has no free will, giving the addict very little choice to decide what is rational and irrational behavior, therefore addiction is a disease. The areas most predominately affected in addict’s brains consist of the (1) Pre-frontal cortex region, the (2) and the central-brain. The Mid Brain is responsible for memory and learning, thus the mid brain is where the addiction is created. The areas mentioned above are underactive when sober, yet when the addict “uses” these regions of the brain are stimulated and flooded with massive amounts of dopamine, and serotonin creating an instinctual “reward system”.
A summary of the article “Addiction: Choice or Compulsion” will explain the theories and models of addictive behavior. The moral model shows addiction as a voluntary act, which the addict can control. The medical model portrays addiction as a disease and compulsive behavior that the addict has no control over. The introduction of the third model will suggest that it is neither compulsive nor voluntary (Henden, Melberg, & Rogeberg, 2013).
Addiction is a word that, despite being used on a daily basis, is misconstrued by the public. Johann Hari addresses this issue in a Ted Talk he calls, “Everything we know about addiction is wrong,” which he performed to the public in 2015. Merely based upon the title of the Ted Talk, it was evident Hari’s intention was to raise awareness on the subject of addiction. The crowd was more apt to be open-minded to the argument, considering the fact that they paid to attend the Ted Talk, and as a result of this, Hari did not fail in achieving the proper audience. Hari argued that addiction isn’t all as it seems, and thus went about the Talk explaining how, if we went about treating addiction and addicts differently, the number of recovering addicts would increase. Hari began his argument strongly by providing the audience with
The legalization of marijuana has been strongly debated since the 1920s and 1930s, when it was first recognized as a dangerous drug, and tabloid newspapers popularized exaggerated stories of violent crimes allegedly committed by immigrants intoxicated by marijuana (Grinspoon, Marihuana Reconsidered 118). In 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act was signed to prohibit the use of marijuana because marijuana supposedly caused violent crimes, “sexual excess,” addiction, and led to the use of harder drugs (Grinspoon, Marihuana Reconsidered 118). In the 1970s, the government created the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) to study the effects of marijuana (Weir 26). The NIDA published many claims concerning marijuana use, but they did not have evidence to support their claims (Weir 26). This misinformation and the government’s campaign against marijuana made the legalization of marijuana impossible.
Our country has prohibited marijuana use since the 1930s, but the illegal use has never been cleared up. The prohibition of it has failed miserably. There are millions of regular drug smokers in the United States despite increasingly harsh laws, and “it's estimated that as many as 50 million may have tried pot - and those numbers are probably low since people tend to be less eager to admit to a practice that is so harshly punished” (G2, 2013 ). National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2011 reveals that large proportion of people from 12 to 60 has tried marijuana. The proportion is even higher in college students, among which one third of the interviewees confessed that they have tried marijuana in the past year. Gallup Poll in December 2013 shows that 58% Americans are supportive for marijuana legalization, while the number was 27% in
Addiction is the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. Alcoholism is the continued excessive or compulsive use of alcoholic drinks. Being addicted to either drugs or alcohol, it is still a choice. They are not diseases. People choose what they put in their body and how they control those substances. “...addiction is a habit that grows and perpetuates itself relatively quickly when we repeatedly pursue the same highly attractive goal.”(Lewis)
People in this world knows addiction as a desire to do a certain action in order to receive the pleasure that comes from doing that action, but what they do not know is that addiction is a form of learning. The way addiction is a form of learning by that when an individual first does the action they can associate that action with the pleasure it gives. There is many types of addiction, such as drug addiction, food addiction and many more. Disease is where something causes disorder of structure or function in a human body. Addiction can be thought of as a disease because when a person over does something (food addiction, sex addiction, etc.) that can lead to disease. Despite this the main question that is not
Addiction destroys the brain, the soul, and the emotional side of your brain that can take over your feelings and empathy towards others. Addiction destroys the brain because you learn new habits that can be bad for you.The brain gives itself a reward system that goes along with these habits. “If you taste or experience something that you like, that feels good, you're reinforced to do that again” (Rodgers).This gives evidence that your brain trains itself to accept these feelings and addictions. Addictions can train your brain to react, to accept, and to reward bad behaviors. Addiction manipulates the brain into believing that these addictions are good for you, so this will make it very hard to stop the addiction
In today’s society many struggle with addiction. What exactly is addiction though? Addiction is the result of the consumption of a substance or the participation of an activity to the extent where it is uncontrollable and interferes with the responsibilities of life (PSYCH). Addiction can be anything from drugs, alcohol, and gambling to exercise, video games, and food.
The term addiction originates from the Latin words for both “bound to” and “enslaved by”; a fitting ideology for those experiencing the symptoms of addiction through a loved one, or even personally. Addiction ranges from a number of categories. For instance, food, sex, gambling, alcohol, and drugs can give rise to addiction, among numerous others. Descriptive of all these examples, addictive substances are characterized by two principles: reinforcing stimuli and rewarding outcome. Addiction is a medical condition distinguished by biological and psychological factors. These factors, after repeated exposure of a rewarding stimuli, give rise to changes in learning and memory. However, addiction has not always been perceived as a medical condition. In the 1900’s, addiction was not discerned as a
“Over 100 million Americans nationally have used marijuana despite prohibition, and one in ten – according to current government survey data – use it regularly” (Armentano).
Drug addiction is a chronic disease characterized by compulsive or uncontrollable, drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences and changes in the brain, which can be long lasting. Drug addiction is also a relapsing disease. Relapse is the return to drug use after an attempt to stop. The path to drugs and addictions begin with the voluntary act of taking drugs. The only way you will get addicted is if you chose to yourself. No one else is entitled to you getting stuck on it. People get to the point where they search all over for the drug and have to have it to function. Addiction affects parts of the brain involved in reward and motivation, learning and memory, and control over behavior.