Is Addiction a Disease?
Is addiction a disease? “No way,” claim most people. “Cancer is a disease. All they need to do is put down the bottle or stop taking the drugs they’re abuse.”
I was participating in a forum discussion recently on this question, “Is addiction a disease?” I was moved to comment because so many of the posts reflected my former belief — that it’s not. Some were saying this is the same-old discussion of twenty years ago back for another round and one claimed that even the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous doesn’t call alcoholism a disease. I’d like to share what I wrote and invite you to join the conversation because often, learning this simple fact: alcoholism / addiction is a disease, is a turning point for loved ones of those who drink too much.
I used to think the same thing — that if people could stop smoking or learn to re-eat if they had an eating disorder, then they could learn to re-drink or stop drinking all together without a whole big production. I could never buy the disease concept. Until… one of my loved ones went into treatment for alcoholism and I found myself plunged into a whole new world.
I’ll skip the long story and get to the point — there is a whole new body of research now on the brain that is only possible since the new brain imaging technologies of the 1990s (MRI, PET, SPECT, etc.). Neuroscientists, researchers and other medical professionals are now able to study the LIVE human brain and observe what happens to the brain of an alcoholic (or drug user) vs the brain of someone who is not. They can now show / prove that addiction is a “chronic, relapsing brain disease.” [And, one aspect of treatment is to stop the use of the addictive substance – alcoholism or cigarettes or drugs.]
I’ve studied this now, for about five years, in the course of my own recovery work for codependency and research for my latest book, (If You Loved Me, You’d Stop! What You Really Need To Know When Your Loved One Drinks Too Much)…. it’s fascinating.
Check out this website produced by HBO in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NIDA and NIAAA: http://www.hbo.com/addiction/
To see some of this brain imaging — check out this website: http://www.amenclinics.com/the-science/spect-gallery.
Lisa Frederiksen
Latest posts by Lisa Frederiksen (see all)
- Does a Loved One Have to Hit Bottom? - November 20, 2022
- Resources for Parents of Children with Substance Use and Mental Disorders - October 18, 2022
- 4 Things to Support Brain Health and Function for Recovery - August 30, 2022
I’m long-winded today! I also wanted to comment on what you said about co-dependency.
I think most of us who love an addicted person are co-dependent to one extent or another. Also a lot of us are enablers.
I am embarrassed to admit that I was so co-dependent while my son was struggling with his disease and yes, we did enable him, that I was almost as sick as he was. Enablers enable usually out of much love for the addicted person and the belief that they will save the person by enabling, whether this is calling in sick for them at work, or giving them money and paying their bills, or whatever. My co-author on my first book I Am Your Disease is Heiko Ganzer LCSW, CASAC and he offers enormous insight into enabling on this book and also Slaying the Addiction Monster.
I only wish I had truly known all about addiction, co-dependency and enabling while my own son was struggling. Could I have saved him? Probably not, but I would have had a better understanding of the torment that he was going through.
Thank you again for speaking out about the disease of addiction.
Life is gray… it is a gradual path from caring about someone to enabling them. The difference, to me, is what is the person’s motivation. If they are trying to get better, move forward, live in a positive manner, then by all means.. enable away… none of us grew up without being cared for (i.e. functionally enabled) by our parents.
But, once our help allows someone to slip further into negative, destructive behavior.. we slip into dysfunctional enabling. Anyone who loves/cares for a person with an addiction becomes an enabler until they wake up and realize the loved one is self-destructing. Some of us take a single instance to wake up… others (like myself) take years to wake up.
So, instead of labeling someone as an enabler.. like it is a personality defect… why not view it as a life situation that anyone can fall into.
Dear Leah,
I couldn’t agree with you more — very well said. And, as a person better understands the disease their loved one has (or the consequences of alcohol abuse if they’ve not crossed the line to addiction) and what has happened to them as their loved one’s alcohol abuse/addiction has progressed, the easier it will be to pull back on the “dysfunctional enabling,”
Thank you for commenting.
Lisa
To Sheryl…you are so right, “Enablers enable usually out of much love for the addicted person and the belief that they will save the person by enabling….” Understanding this and how to break this enmeshment in/with a loved one’s life (addiction) is key to breaking the cycle. Thank you for sharing! Lisa