Are Addictions a Real Disease
roger-roger @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:10 am
yogi yogi:
You are so wrong on this subject. A little research on your part is certainly in order. You are really quick to jump all over people who comment on something that they know nothing about, and rightly so, but this time YOU are flapping your gums!!!
Now I know that many people, like AA, consider an addiction to be a disease. Just because they feel addicts act like they are diseased does not make them so. When it comes down to it they are just addicted to a substance, it sucks but they are not in the same league as people who have Polio, MS, AIDS, or Cancer.
kenmore @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:33 am
Addictions are in fact disease.. the dependency on drugs, alchohol, chemicals cause alteration in the cellular make up of the body just like those other diseases you mentioned. alcholism and addiction to tobacco kill thousands every year. cigarette smoke is directly linked to cancers of the lung and breast and bladder. the presentation of symptoms may not be as dire as aids or ms, but the end result of death is the same. there are diseases like Korsakoff's syndrome and other dementias that are the result of alcohol addiction and of course the alteration in cellular make up of unborn children who are born with fetal alchohol syndrome and other congenital syndromes... addictions are diseases..
roger-roger @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:54 am
By your logic mold inhalation could be an addiction...
Addictions may be the causes of many other diseases but they are not in themselves a disease. You can cure an addiction by changing your enviroment.
ngignac @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:08 am
In my opinion yes it is a neurologically based disease
ziggy @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:41 am
Addictions are classified as a dis-ease.
Rightly so.
Kenmore is right here. 
ziggy @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:41 am
Eisensapper Eisensapper:
By your logic mold inhalation could be an addiction...
Addictions may be the causes of many other diseases but they are not in themselves a disease. You can cure an addiction by changing your enviroment.
Addictions may be the causes of many other diseases but they are not in themselves a disease. You can cure an addiction by changing your enviroment.
Sorry but i'll call bullshit on that one.
roger-roger @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:06 am
If a guy is addicted to cigarettes, you get him over withdrawal and teach him self control you cure him. That in my mind removes the classification of a disease. I like wearing underwear, I am addicted to having it on for long periods of time, does that mean I have a disease?
Tricks @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:39 am
It may not be the addiction so much as an addictive personality that could be seen as a disease. Being addicted to tobacco is because it has drugs that are addictive. So it has nothing to do with any biological or psychological make-up. It's the properties of the drug.
Brenda @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:26 am
Life is a disease! 
I agree with Eis though... The addiction might cause a disease, but the addiction an sich is not a disease, it is an addiction. There are many addictions that are not unhealthy, or causing life-threatening diseases. Are they diseases?
Gunnair @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:50 am
Eisensapper Eisensapper:
yogi yogi:
You are so wrong on this subject. A little research on your part is certainly in order. You are really quick to jump all over people who comment on something that they know nothing about, and rightly so, but this time YOU are flapping your gums!!!
Now I know that many people, like AA, consider an addiction to be a disease. Just because they feel addicts act like they are diseased does not make them so. When it comes down to it they are just addicted to a substance, it sucks but they are not in the same league as people who have Polio, MS, AIDS, or Cancer.
I disagree a bit, thinking that they are indeed a disease. Once caught, dropping the addiction is very difficult at best, but not impossible.
That being said, they are a completely preventable disease.
Don't want to be a heroin adict? Don't do heroin.
Gunnair @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:56 am
Eisensapper Eisensapper:
If a guy is addicted to cigarettes, you get him over withdrawal and teach him self control you cure him. That in my mind removes the classification of a disease. I like wearing underwear, I am addicted to having it on for long periods of time, does that mean I have a disease?
$1:
a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment.
,
If one considers the inability to stop an addictive behaviour as an indicator of a disease, then it would seem addiction falls under the guise of a disease as it can be a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ[i]i.e. brain [i]part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of poisons, toxicity[i] i.e. drugs and alcohol.
Gambling and sex addictions could be attributed to unfavourable environmental factors
Yogi @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:47 am
Eisensapper Eisensapper:
yogi yogi:
You are so wrong on this subject. A little research on your part is certainly in order. You are really quick to jump all over people who comment on something that they know nothing about, and rightly so, but this time YOU are flapping your gums!!!
Now I know that many people, like AA, consider an addiction to be a disease. Just because they feel addicts act like they are diseased does not make them so. When it comes down to it they are just addicted to a substance, it sucks but they are not in the same league as people who have Polio, MS, AIDS, or Cancer.
Well. I see that you decided NOT to research your OPINION, rather it seems you are content to continue to propagate the common misconception!
dis-ease/n:an abnormal bodily condition that impairs functioning and can usu. be recognized by signs and symptoms (The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
An addiction IS a disease in as much as it involves a physical aspect of the body, ie; neurotransmitters which are permanently alteredby the physical use of a substance. Addiction (substance abuse) is COMMONLY confused with [b]compulsion (gambling ) which is psychological.
The medical community which is the governing body in such matters recognizes addiction as a disease.
Not meant as an insult to anyone here I have provided a link which explains in the simplest manner, because, as we all know, most medical information is very dry and boring reading at best! Don't just 'glance' at the article. Read it completely.
http://www.medical-online.com/addict.htm
rawmeat @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:47 am
The Recovery Method called "Rational Recovery" in fact makes those addicts that partisipate in their program completely shed the idea that addiction is a disease. In fact they say you have to become fully aware that you are 100% in control of what you put in your body and you alone have the power to stop the activity. For anyone that has tried some of the conventional addiction treatments and realize they don't work this is a great alternative, and it is free on the internet (there are actualy courses you can pay for but you don't need them).
Brenda @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:03 pm
$1:
An addiction IS a disease in as much as it involves a physical aspect of the body, ie; neurotransmitters which are permanently alteredby the physical use of a substance. Addiction (substance abuse) is COMMONLY confused with [b]compulsion (gambling ) which is psychological.
Neurotransmitters are permanently altered by the use of the substance. Ok, I can see that. That still doesn't make the addiction a disease, it makes it the effect of the addiction.
I was addicted to cigarettes for over 14 years. I never got sick. I was cranky when I quit cold turkey 11 years ago. Do I have a disease? Still? I don't think so. I had a habit. The addiction to nicotine was over a couple of days after I quit. Getting rid of the habit took way longer...
Yogi @ Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:33 pm
Brenda Brenda:
$1:
An addiction IS a disease in as much as it involves a physical aspect of the body, ie; neurotransmitters which are permanently alteredby the physical use of a substance. Addiction (substance abuse) is COMMONLY confused with [b]compulsion (gambling ) which is psychological.
Neurotransmitters are permanently altered by the use of the substance. Ok, I can see that. That still doesn't make the addiction a disease, it makes it the effect of the addiction.
I was addicted to cigarettes for over 14 years. I never got sick. I was cranky when I quit cold turkey 11 years ago. Do I have a disease? Still? I don't think so. I had a habit. The addiction to nicotine was over a couple of days after I quit. Getting rid of the habit took way longer...
Not all addictions are a disease. Some addictions, such as smoking are widely recognized as being the cause of other diseases.
In, and of itself, nicotine addiction is not a disease, rather nicotine addiction is classified as 'nicotine use disorder'...
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/287555-overview