The disease and choice of drug addiction essay
Get your custom essay. After doing a lot of research on this controversial topic, I continue to believe that drug abuse or addiction is entirely a matter of choice and not a disease. The time a person is born, he or she knows nothing. You are introduced to the new world with your own will. Effects of drug addiction on behavior. Psychoactive substances affect the parts of the brain that deal with reward, pleasure and risk. They cause a feeling of euphoria and well-being by overwhelming the addiction. Addiction exerts a long and powerful influence on the brain that manifests itself in three different ways: craving for the object of addiction, loss of control over its use, and continued involvement with it. Nevertheless, the disease model of addiction describes addiction as a chronic, relapsing disease. It is stated that although substance use may initially be voluntary, repeated substance use causes substantial changes in the brain that cause an individual to lose control over their drug use. The disease model assumes that every individual is more or less vulnerable to it. Many genetic polymorphisms have been identified that enhance addictive responses by altering receptor sensitivity or drug metabolism. Over time, continued substance use causes permanent anatomical and chemical changes in the brain. 4. Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease that we must treat in the same way as other similar diseases. Normative thinking about addiction has traditionally been divided between a medical model that views addiction as a disease characterized by compulsive and recurrent drug use over which the addict has little or no control, and a moral model that views addiction as a choice that is characterized by voluntary arguments in favor. The idea that drug addiction should be viewed as a disease is supported in the article “Addiction as a Brain Disease Revisited: Why It Still Matters, and the Need for Consilience.”. Heilig et al. 2021 assumes that denying the fact that addiction is a serious brain disease can cause serious harm to the population that suffers from it. Theories that conceptualize addiction through the three-phase brain disease model challenge other theories that substance use disorders have behavioral or genetic origins. The debate over whether addiction is a disease or a choice is a complex and often polarizing topic in the mental health and mental health field. substance abuse. On the one hand, some argue that addiction is a choice and not a disease, emphasizing personal responsibility and the role of individual decision-making in initiating drug use. Drug addiction, also called substance abuse disorder, is a disease that affects a person's brain. and behavior and leads to an inability to control the use of a legal or illegal drug or medication. Substances such as alcohol, marijuana and nicotine are also considered drugs. If you are addicted, you may continue to use the drug despite the harm it causes. Many people who argue against addiction being a disease say it is a choice. People claim that addiction is “self-acquired and is not communicable, contagious, autoimmune, hereditary, degenerative, or traumatic. Treatment consists of little more than stopping certain behavior. Effects of drug addiction on behavior. Psychoactive substances affect the parts of the brain that deal with reward,.