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The modern disease theory of alcoholism states that problem drinking is sometimes caused by a disease of the brain, characterized by altered brain structure and function. Today, alcohol use disorder (AUD) is used as a more scientific and suitable approach to alcohol dependence and alcohol -related problems.
The common biomolecular mechanisms underlying addiction – CREB and ΔFosB – were reviewed by Eric J. Nestler in a 2013 review. [3] Genetics and mental disorders may precipitate the severity of a drug addiction. It is estimated that 50% of healthy individuals developing an addiction can trace the cause to genetic factors. [4]
According to the new disease model, rather than being a disease in the conventional sense, addiction is a disease of choice. That is, it is a disorder of the parts of the brain necessary to make proper decisions. As one becomes addicted to cocaine, the ventral tegmentum nucleus accumbens in the brain is the organ. [5]
The disease model of addiction has long contended the maladaptive patterns of alcohol and substance use displays addicted individuals are the result of a lifelong disease that is biological in origin and exacerbated by environmental contingencies. This conceptualization renders the individual essentially powerless over his or her problematic ...
Peele maintains that, depending on the person, abstinence or moderation are valid approaches to treat excessive drinking. In a Psychology Today article which compared the Life Process Program with the disease model, [12] he also argues against the theory proposed decades ago by modern physicians, mental health professionals, research scientists, etc. that addiction is a disease. [13]
Dr. Gene Heyman [14] and others assert alcoholism is not a progressive, incurable disease. See disease theory of alcoholism for a full discussion. The diagnostic assessment of alcoholism in someone can include an assessment of co-morbidity with conditions such as mental illness and domestic violence.
Dodes received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1966, his D.M.S. from Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine in 1968, and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1970. He is a training and supervising analyst emeritus of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and a retired assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
She believed alcoholism runs in the family, and education of the disease was essential. Three ideas formed the basis of her message: Alcoholism is a disease and the alcoholic a sick person. The alcoholic can be helped and is worth helping. Alcoholism is a public health problem and therefore a public responsibility. [6]