Addiction is not simply an extension of bad habits, or else every person who drank wine would be an alcoholic and every person who tried pain killers after surgery would grow into a heroin addict. The truth is that some people are susceptible to addiction and others are not, and the only factors that can account for the individual differences in reaction to addictive substances are those that are biological in nature. Therefore, addiction is clearly a disease and should be researched and treated as such. Many sources have been presented showing that addiction is not a disease, primarily due to backlash against the Twelve Step movement or some other distaste for the underlying principle of the disease model. Yet consistently the research points to the inability of addicts to manage their addictions in ways that are compatible with cognitive-behavioral therapy and other interventions that circumvent the disease model. According to the American Society for Addiction Medicine, "addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry." As a primary disease, addiction is not an extension of some other underlying issue. Rather, addiction can exist independently of other problems. Moreover, addiction is a chronic disease in that it can last a lifetime...
People who temporarily use drugs for whatever reason and then give them up are not addicts; whereas persons with the addiction disease can never truly stop using. One of the reasons why addiction is confused with behavioral dysfunction is that it resembles basic behavioral issues. Yet the difference between addiction and other bad habits is that addiction signals fundamental changes in brain structure or chemistry: the circuits of neurological activity. "Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations," (American Society for Addiction Medicine, 2011). Addiction is about the "underlying neurology," which is why it is classified officially as a disease and not as a behavioral problem ("Addiction Now Defined as a Brain Disorder, Not Behavior Problem," (2011).
Addiction to Alcohol With alcohol addiction posing major health and social problems in the United States, and the family remaining the basic social unit, the effects of alcohol addiction by a family member on the functioning of that social unit is of paramount importance in understanding the degree to which alcohol addiction is disruptive to family life; understanding this may lead to better ways to mitigate the effects of addiction on
. The two hypothetical systems working on an individual's brain during the experience of addiction are complementary within and between system changes. The first counteradaptation results in a decrease in the transmission of dopamine and serotonin release during withdrawal phases of the cycle (Robinson & Berridge 2001). Effectively, dopamine and serotonin transmission is artificially increased beyond the normative range during drug use, then virtually stopped once the drug has left
Addictive Virus" -- later to become the thirteenth chapter of their bestselling book Affluenza -- John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor engage in a highly rhetorical comparison of addictive shopping to physical addictions such as alcoholism and drug addiction and behavioral addictions like compulsive gambling. It becomes clear shortly into their paper that their purpose is largely alarmist and moralistic, rather than medically or therapeutically intended:
Brockton, Massachusetts: Use of the Adaptation Model, Nursing Process and Guidelines for a Comprehensive Community Assessment This work in writing will utilize the Adaptation Model, nursing process and guidelines to complete a community assessment, analyze gathered data for implications for health care, formulate a nursing diagnosis for the community, and incorporate findings into the nursing process and formulate a care plan for a specific community problem. According to the Public Health Nursing:
They need a supportive, stable person in their lives. If the child is abused, he or she is missing a key part of their development. They continue to grow up believing that they are alone. Not only is this feeling brought on by abuse but if a parent dies or the child is torn between a divorce, the adult can still feel abandoned. Sex fills that void, the individual
Forgiveness on human health. In its simplest form, the purpose of the study is to evaluate human psychological stress that might constitute a risk factor for heart disease. Further, the study will also evaluate the impact of forgiveness on heart disease. However, such a simple dissertation clearly demands further definition. What, exactly, do we signify when we speak of heart disease? What is properly considered as forgiveness? What impact does
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