¶ … Addict, Michael Stein uses a case study approach to exhibit, analyze, and discuss addiction in general and how addiction impacts the lives of individuals specifically. The author takes into account psychological trauma, psycho-social issues, and other situational variables but ultimately ascribes to the disease model of addiction. Stein concludes from his case study with Lucy that substance abuse is a disease just as heart disease is but does not provide any substantial evidence backing up this claim. In fact, Stein (2010) simply calls addiction "the disease of wanting more," which is hardly a scientific assessment of substance abuse (p. 25). If the disease model were supported by the literature, there would be clear outlines of disease etiology and the neurobiological pathways upon which it works. In fact, the disease model has not received unequivocal research support. Although popular and politically effective in terms of freeing up funding for addiction treatment, the disease model is not a scientific model. "Wanting more" cannot be quantified as a disease in the same way that cancer or Parkinson's can be. Still, most researchers do recognize the potential benefits of the disease model such as potentially opening up funding for addiction programs.
Research reveals the evolution of the addiction model, tracing it back to the early twentieth century and the earliest stage of the profession of psychology itself. According to Parssinen & Kerner (2016), the first formal mention of addiction as a "disease" was recorded in 1878, when physicians first discussed their patients' tendency toward opioid addiction. The use of the term "disease" was similar then as it is now, less a scientific assertion and more an emotional reaction to the pain and suffering exhibited by addicts. Because researchers, physicians, and other conscientious observers noted similar behavioral, emotional, and cognitive characteristics in addicted clients, the disease model seemed like an attractive way to group together cases of substance abuse. Furthermore, the use of the disease model superseded the far less productive...
Given the tremendous push to legitimize psychology as a social science and remove any taint of religion or moral judgment from the field, by1910, the disease model had become entrenched as a paradigm in the field of psychology (Parssinen & Kerner, 2016). The disease model has allowed substance abuse to be studied as a psychological and sociological phenomenon, and has certainly paved the way for actual neurological and biological research into potential disease etiology.
However attractive the disease model is from a theoretical and counseling point-of-view, a biological foundation for the model has yet to be elucidated. Still part of the psychological orthodoxy, as Stein shows, the disease model has nevertheless prevailed. The disease model parallels the philosophy of one of the most widespread and significant treatment interventions for addiction: the Twelve Step program. The Twelve Step program of recovery relies on the disease model to encourage participants to remain vigilant about their substance abuse tendencies in order to avoid relapse. Furthermore, the disease model has informed research hypotheses and the direction of clinical research for generations. However, clinical research does not substantiate the disease model.
In one study, Hall, Carter & Forlini (2014) find that the disease model is "not supported by animal and neuroimaging evidence to the extent its advocates suggest; it has not helped to deliver more effective treatments for addiction; and its effect on public policies toward drugs and people with addiction has been modest," (Hall, Carter & Forlini, 2014, p. 105). This research highlights studies that do reveal changes in the addicted brain, which themselves cannot point to any "disease," per se but simply a set of related phenomena. As Hall, Carter & Forlini (2014) and other researchers continually point out, neuroscience has yet to provide clear-cut evidence that addiction has a genetic etiology, or that persons who have chronic substance…
