The Problem Of Addiction And Addiction

In the speech,”Everything you know about addiction is wrong,” spoken by Johann Hari, attempts to inform the audience about how society takes drug addiction the wrong way and is completely normal for a human to use drugs as a last resort in life. The presentation starts off when he explains to the audience the many different drug addicts he has met in his life a few years ago while traveling a long 30,000 mile journey. He then goes onto stating from his research that everything humanity has been taught about drugs is completely backwards. A experiment was done in the 50’s to show the relationship between drugs and social life. The reason people start drugs is not because they want to, but it is caused by not being able to bear a present in your life. Moreover, there is cruel punishments of drug abuse in America and how Portugal has tried to change it in their country. Luckily people can get over any kind of addiction when they have a friend or blood relative that they can call on if they have a crisis. Finally, people should be more supportive and open in their heart when it comes to others that have a addiction. The author uses logos and pathos to emotionally connect and comfort the people that have thought about drugs in their life and people that dislike drugs and addicts, but using ethos he tries to make a change in the natural drug habitat.

Many people believe the misconception that an addiction is a moral problem and not a disease. To better understand the reasons why an additicition is in fact a disease; I will identify several types of addictions, and the problems associated with them. I will examine reasons why certain people are more susceptible for developing an addiction. Also, I will determine why many addicts deny their problems and many recovery methods addicts use to fight their illness. Researching these issues, will help aid my claim that addiction is a disease.

In order to better understand addiction as a disease as opposed to a moral dilemma it first must be broken down. First you must look at the way in which the chemicals affect the brain. The first attempt at partaking in any mind altering substance can be looked at as a choice to the individual. However what happens after that first

He structured his piece by alternating between logos and pathos. Once he grabbed the audience's attention emotionally, he would then provide them with statistical proof to further validate their emotions. Hari began this method right off the bat. In talking about the subject of addiction, not everyone can relate, and Hari took advantage of this. It is a unanimously-accepted truth that heroin is one of the most addictive drugs, and given this, most try to avoid the drug. However, what most people don’t realize, is that they have unknowingly taken heroin at some point in their lives. Diamorphine is a more pure form of heroin that doctors provide to patients as a painkiller. If it were actually true that people got hooked on heroin upon their first experience, then many of hospital patients would already be addicts. Hari explained this to the audience in an attempt to make his speech more relatable, which he did a remarkable job. Directly after providing the audience with this fact, he hit them with a research study performed in the 1970s regarding heroin. It was a study done by psychology professor Bruce Alexander, which he called The Rat Park Study. In the end, Professor Alexander came to a couple conclusions as well as possible future examinations concerning recovering addicts. This study brought about the theory that ‘…the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is

Addiction: is it a disease or a choice? A disease can be described as “a disorder of structure or function that produces specific signs or symptoms, or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of a physical injury.” Knowing this, one can believe addiction is a disease. It is something that is done frequently, that usually does not end, just as a disease; it cannot cease on its own, because it requires some form of treatment. The big question regarding addiction is why people believe it to be a choice opposed to a disease.

The definition provided above is accessible and easy to understand; however, it initiates false beliefs among individuals because it fails to acknowledge that drug addiction is a mental health problem. Moreover, when words such as, “dependence”, “control” and “craving” are used to define drug addiction, it leaves an impression to the reader that addicts are indeed “people who cannot control their impulses.” Consequently, when we fail to recognize that drug addiction is a mental health problem, our focus is diverted towards the physical aspect of drug addiction. This could cause the belief among individuals that drugs alone cause the addiction. It is essential to acknowledge that there are chemical hooks in drugs; however, individuals need to understand that drugs alone do not cause the addiction. We need to identify and distinguish the “root cause” of addiction and ask ourselves: what caused the individual to take the drug in the first place?

understand their clients with addiction problems and motivate them to change. This model is one of the most widely used models within the field of addiction treatment initially developed to describe the process of adopting any healthy behavior. Motivational interviewing shares much in common with the trans-theoretical or Stages of Change Model of behavior change. Although not universally endorsed, the trans-theoretical model holds that at any given time, a person is at a particular stage in relation to behavior change (Harvard Mental Health Letter, July 2008).

The omnipresence of the disease perception of addiction disguises the fact that it did not appear from the buildup of scientific discoveries. The meaning to addiction-as-disease has been continuously reformed, commonly in the path of conceptual flexibility, such that it now bears an embarrassment of riches: an increasing variety of growing range of supposedly addictive experiences which do not assist the intake of drugs. Doing something excessively does not solely represent addiction. Addiction is preoccupying your life around it, as well as, setting it as the prime and most important activity over everyone and everything else. Addiction can make the person become very obsessive over the activity as their day-to-day life revolves around it. On the other hand, abstinence is the very opposite, it is the form of ‘not doing '. It allows someone to act willingly to their own beliefs. However, this still causes triumph as people who do not ‘do ' are still noticed, as well as those who ‘do ' within their social circles as they are breaking norms which are required in today 's society. This makes the person become visible. You get two types of ‘not doing '. They are quitting something that was a habit of the person such as becoming an ex-smoker or an ex-drinker, and ‘never doings’ which are acts a person has never engaged in, for example, sex, smoking etc. Both types define one’s identity but their social significance differs as quitting is easier to manage than ‘never doing’.

When first hearing about the assignment, I was skeptical about how absorbed I would be in this topic. As I watched the videos, my reaction and view point drastically changed. I was not interested in hearing the sob stories behind being hooked on drugs when I started looking into the assignment. I figured it was just like any other story where some friend introduced them to a drug and they were instantaneously hooked, but I was beyond wrong. Those stories were about everyday people, who one way or another got addicted to prescription drugs. The individual who changed my viewpoint of the topic the most, was the woman in the first clip who was familiarized to pain killers through her doctor for pain she was having due to old sports

Addiction has long been questioned whether it is a disease or a choice. Although this is mostly an opinion, this has larger impacts on things such as rulings in court cases and how health insurance may cover an individual struggling with addiction. I personally view addiction as a consequence of a series of poor decisions. There are many factors that lead me to believe addiction is a choice. This essay will cover what addiction is, scientific proof that addiction is not a disease, and lastly my personal opinion.

Based on the videos, the prevalence of addiction is high within the contemporary society, especially amongst adolescents and young adults due to exposure to addictive substances that can be easily misused or dependent upon. Furthermore, individuals consume narcotics in order to gain a pleasurable feeling, which can in place serve as a dupe for an everyday activity such as eating (Volkow) while others see drugs as source to relieve depressive ideas and thoughts (Volkow). I found the HBO series to be emotional and interesting as it highlighted different aspects of substance abuse that is carried out by individuals on a daily basis such as the use of narcotics and alcohol. Substance abuse and dependence are seen as the key factors that drive individuals

First, addiction should be defined. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, addiction is defined as, “The state or condition of being dedicated or devoted to a thing, esp. an activity or occupation; adherence or attachment, esp. of an immoderate or compulsive kind.” Now with this definition, it seems like people can be addicted to just about anything. That being said, there are two main types of addictions; behavioral and substance. Behavioral addiction is defined by the American Addiction Centers as “The compulsion to continually engage in an activity or behavior despite the negative impact on the person’s ability to remain mentally and/or physically healthy and functional in the home and community.” Simply put, people with behavioral

Addiction is an incontrollable need for a substance. When someone is addicted, the feeling of being hooked to a substance makes you psychologically believe you cannot go without that substance. These addictions are not only hurting the person doing the substance, but it can tare families apart. Opiate addiction is a disease that is looked down upon by society. If substance users to not get the treatment they need, they will continue to do everything in their power to get ahold of the opiate drug of their choice. This could lead to stealing from people they know or family and friends and lead to hurting people, including loved ones. The use of opiates has been on the rise. Many studies have been done to close in on the cause

“Addiction is a brain disease expressed in the form of compulsive behavior,” says by Alan Leshner in his article, “Addiction Is a Brain Disease” featured in the book Drug Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints. Addiction has a variety of meanings depending on what your viewpoint of addiction. According to dictionary.com, the concrete definition of the word addiction is, “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.” Basically various doctors and therapist consider addiction to be a genetic disorder. “Provocative, controversial, unquestionably incomplete, the dopamine hypothesis provides a basic framework

Drug addiction is one of society 's biggest problems and it is rampant among teenagers and young adults and one of the most abused drugs is marijuana. Cannabis sativa or marijuana usually grows throughout tropical and temperate climates and then plant 's stems, leaves, flowers, and seeds are then dried. What attracts to most users is the mind altering effect these parts produce which is addictive to some extent. It is usually smoked as cigarette, or in a pipe. It is also smoked in blunts, in which cigars will be emptied of tobacco and refill with marijuana or sometimes it is combined with another drug. It can also be brewed as tea or mixed in food. Hashis is a more concentrated, resinous form which is sticky black liquid, hash oil. The