Just so we're clear here.
The "it's a choice" crowd: you really feel that there is nothing more to addiction than "he chose to use an addictive substance until he became physically dependent on it"? That's it? There is no genetic pre-disposition, difference in brain chemistry, or anything? All that stuff is bullshit?
The "it's a choice" crowd: you really feel that there is nothing more to addiction than "he chose to use an addictive substance until he became physically dependent on it"? That's it? There is no genetic pre-disposition, difference in brain chemistry, or anything? All that stuff is bullshit?
Claiming one has a disease though isn't an excuse and doesn't give one a pass for fucking over his friends and family, and or killing, or committing other crimes.
I've seen guys use the disease theory as a crutch, an excuse to do bad shit. Plus there's no evidence that treating addiction as a disease has any better out come than treating it as a vice. The success rates are identical.
Sure. And guys have used the "sex addiction" excuse after getting caught cheating on their wives. It's all bullshit, no one forces us to make the choices we make. No one ever forced me to drink, and if I ever drink again that will be my choice too.
But the FACT is that my body reacts to alcohol differently than a non-alcoholic. If my brother and I went out tonight and drank identical amounts of liquor, I would wake up in withdrawal and he wouldn't. I'm talking about medically measurable withdrawal.
So how is that? That might not be because I have a disease per se, but something is different between us, no?
