Is Addiction A Disease, A Symptom, or A Choice?
The debate that has been going on forever is if drug addiction is a disease or is at a choice. You will have people on both end of the debate. As someone who is in recovery, I can tell you I have been personally hurt by people I know and care about because of their views on this controversial topic. Today, I would like to analyze three different sides, and let you know which way I feel like the topic is.
Let’s first discuss the fact that yes, we did make the discussion to take the pill, drink, smoke the blunt, or snort the substance when we did it. I do not believe that anyone thought, “wow, I want to do this and ruin my entire life. That sounds like a fun way to start my Thursday morning.” Nonetheless, we did it. We consciously made the choice.
The fact is though, we went to the same party, and did the same thing that you did, but we could not stop after that one time. We had to have more, and more. But as far as you are concerned, we just love torturing ourselves that much that we just keep putting ourselves in the misery. Most people who think addiction is a choice and have such strong hateful feelings towards addicts in general, have been hurt by an addict that has yet to get clean and is stuck in their sickness.
Now let’s talk about addiction being a disease. I have heard of this concept and can agree with it. It is not a disease, per se, like cancer. It is a disease of the mind. People with addiction are missing a chemical, that the drug creates in their brain chemistry. This chemical is dopamine. Without the drugs, they go through harsh withdrawals (I can attest to this), and they will think they are dying.
People do not like hearing addiction being called a disease, which I can also understand because it started from a choice. No sheer willpower will get you to stop using, it will take assistance from rehab, medication, or spiritual guidance. While we did make the choice to start using, we do not choose to continue using.
The last side I would like to discuss is addiction being a symptom of mental illness. I believe that addiction is a symptom of mental illness wholeheartedly. I believe that many people with addiction issues, also have mental health issues which are the underlying causes of their addiction issues. My reasoning why is I believe we try to dose ourselves with “medication” in our heads to make us forget about our depression/anxiety or whatever mental health issue that is going on at that time, and we end up getting addicted.
We all get addicted to something that numbs the pain, and I believe this is at least how my addiction started. I know of several others who can also say this would be similar to how their addiction started.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I respect everyone’s opinion. I truly believe after all my research on this topic, this is the most realistic answer to this topic.