Addiction is the progressive dependency on a substance, an activity, or an indulgence without which the user suffers much discomfort, unrest, and in extremity, even death. At the beginning of any addiction, it is a matter of choice, and the user is in control. After continued use, the individual ceases to have control, and the consequences are beyond the user. The user’s particular substance of choice seizes control of the mind. The same is true of other addictive behaviors. Addiction help online helps you understand the bondage aspects of addiction.
Addiction affects the brain and the body alike and renders the user helpless. In most instances, the user is desperate to stop, but they cannot without outside intervention. Addiction highlights behavioral issues, and it complicates how people relate to addiction. That’s why others claim that it’s up to the user to abstain or indulge. In contrast, empirical evidence argues the opposite and states that addiction is a disease.
During active addiction, the user is no longer in control. Their cravings and discomforts are as real as the rain in a thunderstorm. Users suffer mental anguish unknown to the outsider as such controversy arises from the compulsive and impulsive behaviors common to the addict. Such traits are rife in hypersexuality, binge eating, internet addiction, and excessive shopping.
Active addiction causes the user to live in bondage. They cease to control their alcohol consumption, substances, or behavior such as gambling, social media, or eating.
Understandably, the outsider cannot identify the link between these behavioral traits and neurobiology. Without this crucial element, there is a disconnect between addiction and other conventional diseases.
Types of addictions
Addiction is not limited to alcohol and drugs. It includes porn addiction, tech addiction, food addiction, gambling, excessive physical exercise, hypersexuality, and the list is endless. That’s why scientists, drug theorists, psychologists, and other practitioners in the medicine world debate issues on addiction. Some arguments question if there is an occasion for pathologizing everyday activities.
You may relate to gambling and the internet as regular daily activities. However, it is not the case for all users. Experts observe an association between excessive participation in these activities and typical addiction symptoms. In particular, experts cite mood regulation, loss of control, tolerance, craving, and salience bias. Everyday activities can evolve into behavioral addictions. These include but are not limited to binge eating, workaholism, or excessive working out.
A researcher forged a friendship with an Argentine Tango dancer who never missed attending the milonga (venue for tango dancing). The researcher suspected that the Argentine had a tango addiction. So he decided to conduct a questionnaire on the tango dancer. He structured the survey using Goodman’s (1990 ) criteria which is the standard for addictive disorders. He also used DSM-IV, another standard measurement for substance dependence. Using Goodman’s guide, the researcher discovered that the tango dancer planned his vacation around tango dancing.
According to Goodman, one conspicuous symptom of addiction is the user giving up social, recreational, or occupational activities for the activity in question. Another thing the researcher discovered is the tango dancer devoted a significant amount of dancing tango beyond the lessons and practice. His desire to spend considerable time in this specific activity is a sign of tolerance: a symptom associated with addiction.
However, this is not to say that it is an addiction if any teenager suddenly takes a keen interest in playing the guitar and stays at it for hours. No, the teenager may engage in this activity to impress a girl or fit in with his peers.
In the case of the tango dancer, the researcher used other measures for a conclusive outcome. A seemingly harmless activity or hobby like Tango dancing is a candidate for behavioral addiction. Likewise, some studies suggest that internet addiction is a compulsive disorder. It highlights three conspicuous subtypes, excessive sexual preoccupation, gaming, and email or text messaging. Extreme behavior, even that of daily activities, can turn into an addiction.
Is addiction a disease?
One of the most heated debates of all time is the nature of addiction. Some argue against the Brain Disease Model of Addiction (BDMA). Proponents claim that to qualify addiction as a disease destroys the users’ belief in self-efficacy and hinders addiction recovery. Since Marc David Lewis’s recovery model provides a positive narrative concerning recovery, it poses another threat. If the focus is on the self-efficacy of addicts, it minimizes the issue of the user’s struggle. Woe unto the user who fails to live up to such expectations their guilt is prone to consume them.
In his book, The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is not a disease, Lewis, 2015 and others boldly claim addiction is not a disease. He even goes further and suggests tools that can sustain long-term recovery. If it’s not a disease, then why would there be a need for treatment? However, Marc Lewis’s claim is worth considering because he speaks from his addiction recovery. It is, his testimony and that makes it a bit of a challenge to argue with his insights as they’re experiential.
Lewis, a recognized neuroscientist, believes that addiction is an “accidental” consequence of the brain seeking pleasure and relief in “unconventional ways.” He offers this explanation for the medical world’s failure to address addiction appropriately. He makes a strong argument, but it’s hard to ignore the counterarguments that support addiction help online and otherwise.
What is a disease model? Does addiction qualify?
The conventional disease model helps us categorize addiction by scrutinizing the 20th-century definitions and comparing those with more current ones. Scully (2004) complains that it is not easy to articulate a disease and that societies’ definitions of disease differ. She argues gender, class, ethnic group, and even willingness of family support in society influence the interpretation of illness. Scully states that what is termed as “disease” changes with historical times.
She explains that such dynamics are because of two reasons. She names improved diagnostic practices that positively influence expectations in health and the interaction of several social and economic factors. As such addiction help online helps you understand that behavioral addiction also evolves with changes in society and is also affected by permissiveness. Scully intensifies her claim using two examples osteoporosis and homosexuality.
In 1994, osteoporosis morphed from an unavoidable component of the aging process to an abnormality, a pathology (World Health Organization). Those challenged by the condition reconsidered osteoporosis in terms of “normal aging” versus illness. With improvements in health care, health service providers provided treatment that helped those suffering restore their health. Homosexuality is an example of a reverse journey through the medical domain and finally out of the medical realm.
In the 19th century, homosexuality was “a state” of being. In the early 20th century, medics explained homosexuality as the outcome of an unstable endocrine system. The solution to the condition was hormone treatment. Later the medical world described homosexuality as an organic mental disorder.
They claimed it was treatable with neurosurgery or electroshocks. In 1974, the American Psychiatric Association depathologized and removed homosexuality from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV that lists disease states. The described journey and the outcome appreciate Scully’s claim.
Another interesting argument is that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) misbehave, and parents and teachers have lost control as authorities. For over 20 years, this debate has continued with an increase of children suffering the same. Medics come up with various treatments to manage the condition. These proponents provide pharmaceutical remedies for these children. Meanwhile, the opponents say that it is a matter of chosen behavior.
Significance of medical model in addiction help
The term “Medical Model” first appeared in 1971. Ronald D. in, The Politics of Family and Other Essays, Laing describes the set of processes covered in doctors’ training curriculum. He highlights complaints, physical examination, diagnosis, and treatments as crucial to a medical model. He includes prognosis without and with treatment and considers the social, biological, and psychological factors in disease. Most importantly, the medical model maintains this standard even though the medical field may experience an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms of the mentioned elements.
There are many reasons why it is crucial to understand the nature of a condition (disease, disability, or not). One primary reason is that such understanding helps the authorities prioritize and decide the intensity of intervention and allocation of the limited health care resources. That makes it fundamental to understand the disease, disability, and perceived potency. Research and science prioritize the urgency on how to invest time and money in these diseases.
According to Dorland’s Medical Dictionary, a disease is a specific abnormal condition that affects an organism’s structural or functional part or whole. It does not exhibit any “evidence of immediate external injury,” but it is a medical condition. In some cases, a disease may also affect those in contact with the suffering individual. Common characteristics of disease include (but are not limited to):
- Pain
- Distress
- Dysfunction
- Social issues
- Injuries
- Infections
- Disabilities
- Syndromes
- Isolated symptoms
- Unconventional behaviours
- Death
The disease model of addiction portrays addiction as a disease with its origins pointing to genetic, environmental, biological, and neurological elements. Therefore, the traditional medical model recognizes disease as an abnormal condition that causes personal discomfort, distress, and dysfunction. Addiction aligns with this description, and this fact qualifies it as a “disease.” Specifically, addiction is a brain disease.
What causes addiction?
Answers to this question attract significant controversies. Addiction is a baffling subject because the contributing factors range from genetics to the social environment. Cultural, political, and social biases interfere with the evaluation of addiction. The interaction of these factors also complicates the way society interprets addiction. Substantial experience and understanding are a must for one to stay impartial.
Experts suggest that it is helpful to use the approach that addiction follows the model of diseases like diabetes and cardiac-oriented ailments. Most of the time, lifestyle choices and genetics are the underlying contributors to these harmful outcomes. But the difference is that addiction is not as straightforward because of the behavioral elements.
Does addiction help online work?
The bottom line is whichever way addiction is interpreted, and it is a significant killer. However, there is hope for the addict because sobriety is attainable. Addiction may have no cure, but it is manageable, and it takes work. Sobriety comes with peace untold through addiction recovery. However, the decision to pursue sobriety calls for personal responsibility.
Addiction help online is practical because of its accessibility. Sometimes attending a session physically may pose some difficulty such as physical center may be a long way off. Unfortunately, stigma is a hindrance to addiction, therefore, addiction help online offers you privacy. You can attend your sessions right from the comfort of your home. Even you in therapy or treatment can use our resources for your follow-up.
Finding addiction help online
Addiction help online offers you tools to maintain and sustain your addiction recovery. No one can attain this state of peace for another especially because each addict is unique. It is not a matter of one size fits all. Regardless of your addiction, let me help you know the exact steps you need to take to become sober and free.
