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An alcoholic will continue to drink despite serious family, health, or legal problems. Like many other diseases, alcoholism is chronic, meaning that it lasts a person's lifetime; it usually follows a predictable course; and it has symptoms. The risk for developing alcoholism is influenced both by a person's genes and by his or her lifestyle." [62]
The disease model of addiction describes an addiction as a disease with genetic, biological, neurological or environmental origin. [1] The traditional medical model of disease requires only an abnormal condition causing distress, discomfort or dysfunction to an affected individual.
Addiction is a progressive psychiatric disorder that is defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine as "a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry." It is characterized by the inability to control behavior, it creates a dysfunctional emotional response, and it affects the users ability to ...
Addiction is classified as a chronic brain disorder by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). [5] There are several reasons why people develop an addiction. A predisposition to the addictive qualities of substances may be inherited by some people, making it a genetic circumstance. Another cause for addictions could be the environment.
In post-Prohibition 1930s America, it was common to perceive alcoholism as a moral failing, and the medical profession standards of the time treated it as a condition that was likely incurable and lethal. [3] Those without financial resources found help through state hospitals, the Salvation Army, or other charitable societies and religious groups.
Chemistry, not moral failing, accounts for the brain’s unwinding. In the laboratories that study drug addiction, researchers have found that the brain becomes conditioned by the repeated dopamine rush caused by heroin. “The brain is not designed to handle it,” said Dr. Ruben Baler, a scientist with the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
A way to destigmatize substance use disorders and shift public perception from viewing them as a moral failing to understanding them as a chronic medical condition which requires treatment. Provide those who are struggling with addiction assurance and encouragement of healing, and let them know that they are not alone in their struggle.
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