Is an Addiction a Disease?
Question by Ed999: Is an addiction a disease?
I heard an alcoholic doctor say on the radio that her addiction is a disease and not “a will power thing”. I have my doubts, as in the case of a “normal” disease, our free will is not exercised when we catch a bug (although some maladies can be self-inflicted by living unhealthily). Reaching for a bottle cannot be compared to being invaded by a bug, can it?
I speak as someone who was once addicted to gambling (an extremely dangerous addiction), but by use of self control and will power, I am free of it, thank goodness.
Best answer:
Answer by El
Being an alcoholic is very much like having a disease because the alcoholic has no choice in drinking. He is driven by a powerful mental obsession & also feels a compulsion to drink, even against his own will. Alcoholics feel these powerful forces forcing them to drink. Like having cancer, the cancer patient has no choice in having it. It’s kind of hard to explain to a normal person really. I would say that the only other type of people who would fully understand or come close to understanding are people with OCD, Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder. Other alcoholics understand too, of course. How did you feel about gambling, even when you knew you were spending money that should have been used for something else? You needed to gamble to get that buzz, didn’t you? Even after the buzz is long gone, you still thought you’d feel that buzz again. But it doesn’t come back, that buzz. That is also something else alcoholics will chase, that initial buzz. But it never comes back, but yet we are compelled to chase it into the gates of insanity or death. The only way for an alcoholic to get sober & stay sober, is by letting the drink go with the help of a God of our own understanding, not by will power at all.
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