Addictions!..?..!..?

Originally posted by Bardan the Slayer: I couldn't disagree more. Recent research suggests that addiction is genetic. Some people have addictive personalities, some don't. This is why some people can dabble with heroin for 20 years and stop, cold turkey. It is also why others become 100-a-day smokers and die at 30. It is also why these addictive personalities often tend to be addicted to several things at once. It is also why Cipramil, a drug used to treat depression has been revealed to quash the addictions of so-called 'shopaholics'. Addiction is 10% choice, 90% genetics. Saying "I have been on addictive substances and they didn't affect me this way, so people claiming addiction are making excuses" is like saying "It takes 14 units of alcohol to get me drunk, so anyone who says it takes less to get them drunk is making excuses." This is a fairly new threoy, but the papers I read were rather convincing. I'll hunt for some links when I have time.

Thanks for the different perspective [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have read some of the articles about genetic predisposition to addiction..and it would appear that there are genetic causes for some people to be more...likely to become addicts, but in those same reports I also read that the genetic configuration alone won't do it. If the person is of a certain mind set, that they are not as likely to get addicted and more likely to be able to get off the substance if they want to...again it comes down to will and choice. Just as some people show common genetic characteristics with serial killers..those genes do not mean you will become one.

[jabidas]

Depends I guess. I spent the best part of saturday morning writing an essay on the psychology of addiction so I will venture a few points. But first I should mention that I am a bit drunk so this is all a bit blurry to me now.

Anyway, in the vietnam war something like 35% of soldiers were offered heroin, 18% or so became addicted but less than 90% of them became readdicted when they returned to america, Why? Well taking drugs was the norm out there, it was a social thing, it took away a lot of stress and the whole time was seen as something seperate to real life. It was a situation that encouraged drug use but the situation was very different when they returned home so there was no reason to continue.

Jews in america rarely become drunks because their drinking practices tend to be ritualistic, however irish americans tend to be social drinkers so they are far more likely to become drunks. All of this just goes to show how important the enviornment in which a person is in is very important.

The disease concept of alcaholism is a very prominent view taken up in psychiatry where everybody sees some kind of weakness in the human character involved. Of course they are in dire straits so it is easy and perhaps comforting to us to say they are weak compared to us. Anyways the principles of the concept have never been fully examined and the few that have have been found lacking. Groups like alcaholics anonymous take this one up because of their moral beliefs.

What is an addict? It is easy to say that gut who lives on the street with the methelated spirits but what about somebody who gets hammered every friday night or the guy who goes home and starts drinking whiskey alone but is still highly functional everyday. It is impossible to draw a clear line. Often our judgements of drug use tend to be moral rather than biomedical. When we think about morphine we think the good use is a docter giving it to a patient and the bad use a guy using it at home. Maybe the guy doesnt drink and does this instead. What makes what he is doing wrong is our moral judgement which tends to be dogmatic. Frequently we condemnt things we have little knowledge of. For example I would never do L.S.D because from the little I know it would just be insane and incredibly stupid. The truth is I know very little about this drug so what it is, is my judgement from a distant and sort of cautious viewpoint.

We also say addiction about things like heroin which proportionally a small problem compared to alcahol. This says nothing about the use of legal drugs either. For example circa 1981 there were 2000 tons of angaselics used in britain every year. Far more than could possibly be needed so we must conclude that some people take them continously for no reason. DOes this count as an addiction?

Apparently moderation is the key, that is to say that alcaholics can be taught to drink morally. Frequently we condemn them because we think alcaholics are weak. Frequently we make dogmatic judgements about alcahol because of things we assume we know about. To get to the heart of what an addiction is we have to leave behind conventional morality because it gets in the way of accuracy.

another drunken offhand point is that at 20 cigarettes a day you are doing roughly 70000 puffs a year so it is a highly learned thing. The law of effect says that positively rewarded behavior is repeated. SO guess what this does for people addicted to nicotine on a purely psychological level, and thats not even counting physiological dependancy.

[Timber Loftis]

Friday, October 18: "Addicted,"

48 Hours Investigates looks at the obsessive world of addiction:

* Is the "Beltway Sniper" addicted to killing? A look at a similar case may offer insight into the mind of the man behind the murders around Washington. Plus: All the latest developments on this story.
* Last year, 21-year-old Shawn Woolley committed suicide. His mother thinks he killed himself over something that happened in an online game called Everquest. Was he addicted to the game?
* Janice Dickinson was the original supermodel. By her own account she was also out of control - addicted to many things: sex, drugs, and shopping to name a few.
* Shoplifting is a crime, but it's also an addiction, one that has hooked many Americans.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/...ain22761.shtml

[Timber Loftis]

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/Li...ion030421.html

‘I Can’t Help Myself’
Is Addiction a Matter of Choice?

By John Stossel

April 21 — Watching TV, you'd think the whole country is addicted to something: drugs, food, gambling — even sex or shopping.

"The United States has elevated addiction to a national icon. It's our symbol, it's our excuse," says Stanton Peele, author of The Diseasing of America.
There are conflicting views about addiction and popular treatments. So, we talked with researchers, psychologists and "addicts" and asked them: Is addiction a choice?

Publicity about addiction suggests it is a disease so powerful that addicts no longer have free will. Lawyers have already used this "addict-is-helpless" argument to win billions from tobacco companies.

Blaming others for our "addictions" is popular today.

In Canada, some lawyers are suing the government, saying it is responsible for getting people addicted to video slot machines.

Jean Brochu says he was unable to resist the slot machines — that he was "sick." He says the government made him sick, and his sickness led him to embezzle $50,000. Now, he's suing the government to restore his dignity and pay his therapy bills.

Psychologist Jeff Schaler, author of Addiction Is a Choice, argues that people have more control over their behavior than they think.

"Addiction is a behavior and all behaviors are choices," Schaler says. "What's next, are we going to blame fast-food restaurants for the foods that they sell based on the marketing, because the person got addicted to hamburgers and french fries?"

Well, yes, actually. Two weeks after he said that some children sued McDonald's, claiming the fast-food chain made them obese. They lost the first round in court, but they're trying again.


Uncontrollable Impulses?

"Impulse control disorder" is the excuse Rosemary Heinen's lawyer used to explain Heinen's shopping. Heinen was a corporate manager at Starbucks who embezzled $3.7 million, which she then used to buy 32 cars, diamonds, gold, Rolex watches, three grand pianos, and hundreds of Barbie dolls.

In court a psychiatrist testified Heinen was unable to obey the law, and shouldn't be given the seven-year prison sentence she was facing. The judge, however, did put Heinen behind bars, sentencing her to 48 months.

The "helplessly addicted" defense seemed to work better for the Canadian gambler. The judge gave Brochu probation and told him to see a psychologist. His mother paid back the $50,000 he stole.

Now Brochu and his lawyer are seeking $700 million on behalf of all addicted gamblers in Quebec, claiming the government is responsible for getting them addicted, too.


Calling Addiction a Disease

Many scientists say addicts have literally lost control, and that they suffer from a disease.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse calls drug addiction a "disease that will waste your brain." This is our government's official policy. And government-funded researchers, like Stephen Dewey of Brookhaven National Labs, tend to agree.

They say their studies of addiction in monkeys and rats show that addiction is a brain disease.

"Addiction is a disease that's characterized by a loss of control," says Dewey.

Dewey takes his message to schools, showing kids brain scans that he says prove his point. He tells students that addiction causes chemical changes that hijack your brain.


Genetic Destiny?

Dewey and other researchers say our genes predispose some of us to addiction and loss of control.

Researchers at Harvard University believe they may have found one of those genes in the zebrafish.

When researcher Tristan Darland put cocaine on a pad and stuck it on one side of a fish tank, fish liked the feeling they got so much that they hung around the area, even after the cocaine was removed.

Then Darland bred a family of fish that had one gene altered. These fish resisted the lure of the cocaine.

Darland says this shows that addiction is largely genetic. "These fish don't know anything about peer pressure. They either respond or they don't respond to the drug," he says.

At the Medical College of Wisconsin, Dr. Robert Risinger scans the brains of human addicts while they watch a video of people getting high on crack. It's what they call a "craving" video. He then shows them a hard-core sex film.

The brain scans show the addicts get more excited by the craving videos. The drugs become more powerful than sex — because addiction's a disease that changes your brain, says Dewey.

I asked Dewey if he was suggesting that drug users don't have free will.

"That's correct," he said. "They actually lose their free will. It becomes so overwhelming."

But if they don't have free will, how come so many people successfully quit?


Is the Disease Message Harmful?

Addiction expert Sally Satel acknowledges drug addiction and withdrawal is "certainly a very intense biological process." But she is one of many experts who say the addiction-as-brain-disease theory is harmful to addicts — and wrong.

She also thinks it's unhelpful to take away the stigma associated with drug abuse. "Why would you want to take the stigma away?" she asks. "I can't think of anything more worthwhile to stigmatize."

"People need to get rid of the idea that addiction is caused by anything other than themselves," says James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, a book about his experience as an addict.

Frey says he took just about every drug, from alcohol to crack. Yet Frey says he wasn't powerless. He scoffs at Dewey's claim that addicts' brains compel them to keep taking drugs.

Many doctors agree, saying you can still choose not to take drugs, even if they do cause changes in your brain.

"You can look at brains all day," Satel says. "They can be lit up like Christmas trees. But unless a person behaves in a certain way, we wouldn't call them an addict."


Environment and Choice

In fact, some researchers cite experiments that they say prove that addiction is a matter of choice.

In Canada, researchers gave rats held in two different environments a choice between morphine and water. The rats in cages chose morphine; the rats held in a nicer environment preferred the water.

Whether you get addicted also depends on how you're treated. At Wake Forest University, male monkeys lived together for three months, and established a pecking order.

The monkeys who'd been bullied by the "boss monkeys" banged a lever to get as much cocaine as they could. But the dominant monkeys, just by virtue of being dominant, had less interest in the drug.

"It's just like the human world," says Dr. Michael Nader, who conducted the experiment.

"Individuals that have no control in their job show a greater propensity for substance abuse than those that have control," Nader says.

These comparisons suggest that addiction is a choice — not a disease that takes away free will.

The message from the treatment industry is that drug users need professional help to quit. What they seldom say is that people are quitting bad habits all the time without professional help.

In fact, some studies suggest most addicts who recover do so without professional help.

For example, during the Vietnam War, thousands of soldiers became addicted to heroin.

The government tracked hundreds of soldiers for three years after they returned home. They found 88 percent of those addicted to narcotics in Vietnam no longer were.


Quitting Is the Rule, Not the Exception

Even tobacco companies now admit nicotine is addictive, but does that mean it really denies smokers' freedom?

You seldom hear about those people who just quit … on their own. No one's saying it's easy to quit. But it may surprise you that quitting is not the exception, it's the rule. Most people who've used heroin or cocaine have quit. Since 60 percent of smokers have quit — that's 50 million Americans — it seems obvious that people do have free will.

But the drug research establishment insists most addicts are enslaved, that they don't have free will.

Dewey says just because 50 million people have quit smoking doesn't mean that an addiction to smoking isn't a disease.

Yes, it does, says Schaler. Schaler also says the use of the word "disease" is important, particularly in terms of the money "addicts" are spending to get help. "If you say it's a choice not a disease, well then insurance companies may not reimburse for that. … If you say it's a choice, then the tobacco companies may not be slammed for millions of dollars."


Treatment Trap?

Some experts say the treatment industry is taking advantage of people in desperate situations.

"We're selling nicotine patches, we're selling the Betty Ford Center. We tell people, 'You can never get over an addiction on your own. You have to come to us and buy something to get over an addiction.' It's not true, and it's dangerous to tell them that," says Peele.

Former addict Frey agrees. His parents did pay for him to go to the expensive Hazeldon Treatment Center, but Frey says he didn't buy into the messages the center offered in counseling and therapy.

"I stopped because I have my own 12-step program and the first 11 steps don't mean [expletive] and the 12th is don't do it. And I didn't do it."

Frey and other former addicts say choosing is what it takes, making that decision.

"You can't tell people, 'This is all you're fault and there's nothing you can do about it,' " says Frey. "You have to tell them, 'This is all your fault and you can make it all better if you want to.' "

Frey says he still gets drunk. Now he just does it differently. "I get drunk on walking my dogs, I get drunk on, you know, kissing my wife. I get drunk on a good book. Getting drunk is just doing something that feels good."

Great post jab. Good info..let us know how the paper does [img]smile.gif[/img]

As for Alcoholism being labeled a disease...By strict definition I guess it is..but somehow it just doesnt sound right to me. And as Timber just pointed out...our "Pshrinks" are starting to call everything a disease or an addiction when what it seems to be is just plain lack of respect for others, common sense, or the desire to accept responsibility for ones own actions.

I guess while Im on a [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] I should say that Im highly skeptical of the whole Psy***** medical profession. Seems to me that a lot of these people are in a position where it would not make financial sense for them to ever actually cure their patients....but thats a different story.

Thanks for the article TL..I read every word....good stuff..and reminds me of a quote I once heard..."Follow the Money" It is amazing that those who promote addiction as a disease are the ones reaping the big $$$ either in settlements or in government grants...or in treatments.

[jabidas]

Well if you don't cure the addict how are you ever going to get him to pay you for curing him? The problem with therapists is that you do not need any qualification to call yourself a therapist, you just need a piece of paper. Hence you get a lot of complete idiots taking advantage.

A point that I should make at some point is that psychology has nothing to do with that bearded pervert generally known as Freud. We HATE him and his BS untestable, unscientific and just mad theory.

Attributing things to genetics does not give you free will either. It makes everything you do a hardwired response to enviornment. Of course this is part of another giant philisophical debate. I do not think we should say people are genes and their history, for example the greatest figure in american psychology, that is William James, was hugely involved in trying to proove we have free will.

Oh and cure always depends upon what is the societal norm, within limits. The guys who foam at the mouth, bang their heads of the wall and claim they are satan are referred to as insane everywhere. Unless they get burnt at the stake that is.

As for my essay, yeah it was damn good, I was proud. I just wish i could recall what I wrote now.

A book I reccomend to everyone is "The Myth of Mental Illness" by Thomas Szazz. Some of it is plain wrong but he does make some brilliant points so we should look at the. If Psychology is the science of human behaviour like any other science it can be misused. All science is potentially a weapon or a tool of oppression. Its a pity so few scientists have to take a course in ethics. I remember reading Einstein was horrified when he realized what he had discovered. Anyway the missuse of science does not have anything to do with the validity of science.

Just everyone Remember "there are more things in heavan and earth Horation than there are contained in your Philosophy". Or at least it goes something like that, don't blame me I can barely type at this stage.

[pritchke]

Originally posted by MagiK: Thanks for the article TL..I read every word....good stuff..and reminds me of a quote I once heard..."Follow the Money" It is amazing that those who promote addiction as a disease are the ones reaping the big $$$ either in settlements or in government grants...or in treatments.

As well as the ones selling the cigarettes and booze to get people addicted in the first place.

Sometimes I feel like we are all pawns on one large chess board.

Pritchke, I think the ones doing the selling are making the claim that it is a choice not a disease...after all they are doing their best to influence a persons "choice" through their advertising.


Jabadias, Sounds like an interesting book [img]smile.gif[/img] Ill be doing Psych classes next year probably so will be interesting..this year I have to work on finishing my business courses.

[Timber Loftis]

Thanks for the thoughts, Jabidas.

MagiK, sorry I stole your free will and made you post the thread. [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

That Stossel article has TONS of info in it. Each line of the article summarizes 2 minutes or more of footage and interview quotes from the particular episode of 20/20, which took up most of an hour. Twas very good, and I meant to post the article at the time.

I like Stossel's "Give me a break" attitude.