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Is drug and alcohol addiction just a bad habit? Or is it a disease?
Addiction & Recovery | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (92)Comment receiving replies
Not to trivialize or befuddle the debate over whether alcohol and drug addiction are diseases or just weaknesses of character:
I am an addict. I am addicted to FOOD. I wake up thinking about food, I go to bed thinking about food, I have to RESIST food every day and minute of my life!
Is it a disease? No.
Our brains have pleasure centers which if we do not resist feeding that "pleasure" center, we become "addicted" to whatever trips that trigger the most.
I HAVE to control my desires for that trigger, mine being FOOD. I could just as easily do wine and liquor as I love both, too....and if I even tried cocaine, or took too much oxycontin I fear I would ALSO get addicted to such a pleasure because I have tried both (cocaine just a taste back in the 70s to see if it really would make my tongue numb - and it did of course) .
SO: if we don't control our impulses to feed the pleasure centers - we can get addicted to anything. Food, drugs, alcohol, sex...
And when the addiction takes over it will kill us in some way, shape or form.
I feel compassion for those who haven't the fortitude to say "no" or "that is enough". and yes, I think there are genetic propensities to find an addictive substance addictive, but we also have genetic propensities for everything to include being strong of mind enough to say "no" to addiction.
If we do not say "no" we end up in the ditch of life.
Mother Nature sorts us all out that way....to find the strongest.
Replies to "Not to trivialize or befuddle the debate over whether alcohol and drug addiction are diseases or..."
@slarson14 I agree with you that addiction is of the mind and I also believe it to be physical. I know that people, like myself, have issues with a lack of dopamine. Whether that is genetic or due to my using substances so young, I do not know. I do know that increasing dopamine (can be done with food too) is important. I used to exercise daily but I contracted Long COVID in 2022 and that has stopped a lot of my normal activities. People are so complex,y yes? Thank you for sharing all of that.
I'm 66 years old....i ran a purebred cattle ranch for 45 years and have a
seed company JBSEEDCO. I've worked for the USDA Food safety service....ive
worked with and known 1000 's of people during this time. Some if not most
of the strongest people that I've ever met and known have been addicts.
Joseph
Would you say that Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley or a thousand other people
that are addicted are weak minded.?
Joseph
@slarson14 would you also say that everyone that has ever been addicted or anyone that has committed suicide are weaker than you?
Joseph
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Hi @slarson14
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. An addict can indeed become addicted to almost everything. I'm a recovering alcoholic, 15 plus years now, and have been addicted to a lot of what seem like strange things. For a while I was addicted to relationships. I thought it was all about love. It wasn't and each relationship ended badly, save one.
I think having an addiction related to food (bulimia, anorexia, compulsive overeating) is so extremely difficult as opposed to alcohol or drug abuse. We can do without alcohol completely and even many drugs. But food? We have to eat.
So I can't imagine the struggles you've had with that. I'd love to hear more about how you deal with this.
Thanks so much!
Joe