Addiction is not a disease, It is a Choice

You dont hear people constantly referring to cancer as the disease of cancer its just cancer, because its obvious that cancer is a disease, its been conclusively proven that the symptoms of cancer cant be directly stopped ith mere choices therefore no !ualifier is needed" Addiction to drugs and alcohol is not obviously a disease, and to call it such e must either overloo# the major gaps in the disease argument, or e must completely redefine the term disease In a true disease, some part of the body is in a state of abnormal physiological functioning, and this causes the undesirable symptoms" In the case of cancer, it ould be mutated cells, hich e point to as evidence of a physiological abnormality, in diabetes e can point to lo insulin production or cells, hich fail to use insulin properly as the physiological abnormality, hich create the harmful symptoms" If a person has any of these diseases, he cannot directly choose to stop their symptoms or directly choose to stop the abnormal physiological functioning, hich creates the symptoms" $e can only choose to stop the physiological abnormality indirectly, by the application of medical treatment, and in the case of diabetes, dietetic measures may also indirectly halt the symptoms as ell %but such measures are not a cure so much as a lifestyle adjustment necessitated by permanent physiological malfunction&" In addiction, there is no such physiological malfunction" 'he best physical evidence put for ard by the disease proponents falls short on the measure of representing a physiological malfunction" 'he reason addiction is considered a disease is because of the brain changes evidenced by the brain scans ( these changes cause the behavior #no n as addiction, hich are characteri)ed as compulsive drug see#ing and use *+," 'here are t o ays in hich this disease model falls apart

the changes in the brain are not abnormal at all there is no evidence that the behavior of addicts is compulsive %compulsive means involuntary&

.n the first count the changes in the brain of substance abusers are not an abnormal functioning of the brain" 'hey are !uite normal, as research into neuroplasticity has sho n" /henever e practice doing or thin#ing anything enough, the brain changes different regions and neuronal path ays are gro n or strengthened, and ne connections are made0 various areas of the brain become more or less active depending upon ho much you use them, and this becomes the norm in

your brain, but changes again as you adjust ho much you use those brain regions depending on hat you choose to thin# and do" 'his is a process hich continues throughout life, there is nothing abnormal about it *1," 2rain scans just prove neuroplastic changes, hich every healthily functioning persons brain goes through naturally" 'he phenomenon of brain changes isnt isolated to addicts or anyone else ith a so(called brain disease non(addicted and non( depressed and non(*insert brain disease of the ee# here, people e3perience brain changes too" 'hese brain change dont need to be brought on by e3posure to chemicals" 'houghts alone, are enough to re ire the very circuits of the human brain responsible for re ard and other positive emotions that substance use and other supposedly addictive behaviors %process addictions such as se3, gambling, and shopping, etc"& are connected ith" 'hose ho claim that addiction is a brain disease readily admit that the brain changes in evidence are arrived at through repeated choices to use substances and focus on using substances" In this ay, they are saying the disease is a product of routine neuroplastic processes" 'hen they go on to claim that such brain changes either cant be remedied, or can only be remedied by outside means %medical treatment&" /hen brea#ing this do n and loo# at it step by step, e see that the brain disease model rests on an argument similar to the stolen concept" A stolen concept argument is one in hich the argument denies a fact on hich it simultaneously rests" 4or e3ample, the philosophical assertion that reality is un#no able rests on, or presumes that the spea#er could #no a fact of reality, it presumes that one could #no that reality is un#no able hich of course one couldnt, if reality truly as un#no able so the statement reality is un#no able invalidates itself" 5i#e ise, the brain disease proponents are essentially saying neuroplastic processes create a state called addiction hich cannot be changed by thoughts and choices this ho ever is to some degree self(invalidating, because it depends on neuroplasticity hile see#ing to invalidate it" If neuroplasticity is involved, and is a valid e3planation for ho to become addicted, then e cant act is if the same process doesnt e3ist hen its time to focus on getting un(addicted" 'hat is, if the brain can be changed into the addicted state by thoughts and choices, then it can be further changed or changed bac# by thoughts and choices" Conditions, hich can be remedied by freely chosen thoughts and behaviors, dont fit into the general understanding of disease" 6ltimately, if addiction is a disease, then its a disease so fundamentally different than any other that it should probably have a completely different name that doesnt imply all the things contained in the term disease such as the idea that the ill of the afflicted is irrelevant to hether the condition continues"

.n the second count, is there any evidence that substance use is involuntary7 /hen the case for the disease is presented, the idea that drug use is involuntary is ta#en for granted as true" 8o evidence is ever actually presented to support this premise, so there isnt much to be #noc#ed do n here, e3cept to ma#e the point I made above is a piano player fundamentally incapable of resisting playing the piano7 'hey may love to play the piano, and ant to do it often, they may even be obsessive about it, but it ould be hard to say that at the site of a piano they are involuntarily driven by their brain to push aside hatever else they need to do in order to play that piano" 'here is another approach to the second claim though" .ne can loo# at the people ho have subjectively claimed that their substance use is involuntary, and see if the offer of incentives results in changed behavior" $eyman covered this in his latest boo#, Addiction: A Disorder of Choice " $e recounts studies in hich cocaine abusers ere given traditional addiction counseling, and also offered vouchers hich they could trade in for modest re ards such as movie tic#ets or sports e!uipment if they proved through urine tests that they ere abstaining from drug use" In the early stages of the study, 9:; of those in the voucher program remained abstinent, hile only 1:; stayed abstinent in the control group hich didnt receive the incentive of the vouchers" 'his demonstrates that substance use is not in fact compulsive or involuntary, but that it is a matter of choice, because these addicts hen presented ith a clear and immediately re arding alternative to substance use and incentive not to use, chose it" 4urthermore, follo up studies sho ed that this led to long term changes" A full year after the program, the voucher group had double the success rate of those ho received only counseling %<:; to =:;, respectively&" 'his ties bac# to the first point that hat you practice, you become good at" 'he cocaine abusers in the voucher group practiced replacing substance use ith other activities, such as using the sports e!uipment or movie passes they gained as a direct conse!uence of abstaining from drug use thus they made it a habit to find other ays of amusing themselves, this probably led to brain changes, and the ne habits became the norm *>," 5ong story short, there is no evidence presented to prove that substance use is compulsive" 'he only thing ever offered is subjective reports from drug users themselves that they cant stop, and proclamations from treatment professionals that the behavior is compulsive due to brain changes" 2ut if the promise of a tic#et to the movies is enough to double the success rate of conventional addiction counseling, then its hard to say that substance users cant control themselves" 'he reality is that they can control themselves, but they just happen to see substance use as the best option for happiness available to them at the times hen theyre abusing substances" /hen they can see other options for happiness as more attractive %i"e" as promising a greater re ard than substance use&, attainable to them, and as ta#ing an amount of effort theyre illing to e3pend then they ill absolutely choose those option instead of substance use, and ill not struggle to stay sober, prevent relapse, practice self( control or self(regulation, or any other collo!uialism for ma#ing a different choice" 'hey ill simply choose differently"

?eferences +" 8I@A, @rugs 2rains and 2ehavior- 'he Acience of Addiction *http-BB "thecleanslate"orgB p(contentBuploadsB1:+1B:+Bsciofaddiction"pdf,0 1" Aharon 2egley, Acans of Con#s 2rains Aho Ceditation Alters Atructure, 4unctioning, /all Atreet Dournal, 8ovember E, 1::=0 Fage 2+, *http-BBpsyph)"psych" isc"eduB ebB8e sBCeditationGAltersG2rainG/ADG++( :="htm,0 >" Carc 5e is, Addicted 2rains- Corrupted ChoiceH8ot @iseaseHIn the Addicted 2rain, 8ovember +9, 1:++, * "psychologytoday"comBblogBaddicted( brainsB1:++++Bcorrupted(choice(not(disease(in(the(addicted(brain,