Is Addiction a Disease?
Background
- Some drugs are made to be abused
- When stopping a drug you have withdraw symtoms
- Dopamine is a type of feel-good nurotransmitter
- The first couple times you take the drug it is substance abuse
- Repitive use of the drug is additction
Causes of Addiction
- Genetics
- Brain
- Childhood expirences
- Mental Health
- Stress
Affects of Addiction
- Not thinking clearly
- Performance in school
- Changes in weight
- Not talking to family and friends
- Loss of interests
- Finnacial problems
Addiction is a choice not a disease.
- Addiction is a word that is used as an exuse for their personal problems
- If you make the inital choice you can make the choices after that
- If the first choice was just a poor decision then the rest of the poor desicions shouldn't be catagorized as an addiction
- If you made the first choice you make all the choices after that
- "If you declare, "I can't help how I think" You are declaring that your life is a series of personal events that you have no control over."
Addiction is a disease not a choice
- " We can explain everything about addiction without having to resort to causal variables like "bad choices" or "addict personality." "
- Drugs work in mid brain this is where unconsious survival mode happens.
- The midbrain overpowers the cortex's decision making
- When the cortex can't solve things the mid brain takes that as a threat to survival
- The drugs make you feel good because it releases Dopamine
- Your brain thinks that solves the problem because it makes you feel good and activates the pleasure/Reward system
- This changes the way you think therfore it is a disease
Final Thoughts
- I think addiction is a disease not a choice
- Drugs alter the way the brain thinks
- "a condition that prevents the body or mind from working normally"
- Makes your brain think the drug you're addicted to is necessary for survival
- It prevents your mind from working normally
- People who believe addiction is a choice backed up with little to no facts
Bibliography
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Drugs. Digital image. Drugs. Thomas Higher Education. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
"Left, Right & Mid Brain." Brain Vizion. BrainVizion. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.
McCauley, Kevin T. "Addiction Is a Disease, Not a Choice." Addiction. Ed. Christina Fisanick. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Is Addiction Really a Disease?" Texas Bar Journal (July 2004). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 4 Dec. 2014
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