I thought that I knew the difference between an addiction and a disease, I’m not quite sure anymore. The definitions are becoming blurry and the lines between the two, not very clear. I began to ask myself why are these lines becoming unclear, and who is to blame? Who benefits from these lines becoming blurred? I think that I may have come up with some answers!
Let me first start out by giving you a definition of an addiction and a disease. As I said earlier the differences between the two are in question, so as you would expect, the definitions are a little different depending on which one you read. Here is a general definition of both.
An addiction is a recurring compulsion by a person to engage in some specific activity, often to their own detriment.
A disease is a departure from a state of health, a condition of mind or body marked by definite symptoms and signs that impairs the bodily functions.
Now, the problem is that any addiction that affects your health, people want classified as a disease. What people you may ask? I think the drug companies and doctors who make billions of dollars every year love finding new things to treat. The more sick people there are to treat, the more money they make. We all know there is no money in curing people, but keeping them sick and medicated makes money and that is good business.
Who else may have a reason to make addictions diseases? How about Hollywood PR people? Companies are paid millions of dollars every year to spin peoples mistakes and bad press into a positive out come. Life gets much easier for PR companies when you can say that he/she has a disease that they are battling, and needs to seek treatment. They are taking this way to far in my opinion. Ashley Simpson was caught lip syncing on Saturday Night Live and blamed it on acid reflux. What in god’s name does acid reflux have to do with you lip syncing? Nothing, not a god damn thing, that’s what! I’m sure we all remember Mel Gibson’s little rant he had regarding Jews. It wasn’t Mel’s fault, he was drunk. His addiction to whiskey is to blame, and that’s not his fault, it’s a disease. Here’s a news flash for everyone, drinking does not make you a racist, pedophile, murderer, etc. If you are an asshole and you drink, you become a bigger asshole. If you are a racist and drink, you become a bigger racist; Jack Daniels had nothing to do with it. Being a drunk or drug addict is wrong and gets no sympathy, but having a disease that you are battling is noble. It’s all about spin.
The term addiction is often reserved for drug addicts, but it is now being applied to other compulsions, such as gambling, sex, tattoos, pornography, computers, cutting, religion, and sugar, just to name a few. I just checked the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and its lists none of these as diseases. Do you want to know why, because they are not diseases, they are addictions. I believe that we are all born with free will, and with free will come choices. I can decide to stop drinking or smoking, but I can’t decide to stop having Cancer or Aids. Why, because one is an addiction and one is a disease.
This is where the line between addiction and disease cross. Some disease cause addictions, but are diseases. Some addictions cause diseases, but are still addictions. Obesity is one of those conditions that get classified as both. People can be addicted to eating, or have problems losing weight due to gland problems and therefore making it a disease. People, who eat McDonalds 5 days a week and get no exercise, do not have a disease. They are just addicted to McDonalds and are lazy, that’s a choice.
Hell, you even have people now who think that being gay is a disease and if you get counseling, it will go away. I just think that we have become a society that has no idea how to take responsibility for its actions! When was the last time someone stepped up and said yep, it was me, I fucked up. No one takes responsibility, they just MISREMEMBER things! I am tired of movie stars, athletes, politicians and everyone else in the public eye being given a free pass when it comes to accountability. Stop blaming addictions/diseases for your stumbles in life. We fall in life in order to learn how to pick ourselves up. If you do not learn from your mistakes, you are bound to relive them until you learn the lesson you were suppose too.
Life is much easier when you can just blame it on a disease. Show some strength of character and have some accountability for your addiction if you have one, it’s the first step in dealing with addiction, that’s acceptance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hard to argue with any of that...but you know me. I'll try. :-) I agree completely that society is confused and f***ed up when it comes to who's responsible for what that it ends up being nobody's fault. Therefore nobody needs to fix any of the dumb-ass things that are wrong or have been done wrong, especially in your own life. A lot of the problem starts with the field of psychology, which often argues that people are not responsible for their own crimes and misdemeanors because, proverbially speaking, the devil made them do it. That would be the "devil inside, every single one of us, the devil inside." Sometimes, it's a legit argument, but the courts have used it as a way of keeping, or at least trying to keep, the jails from getting too over-crowded. Pedophilia isn't as serious as tax evasion, lots of times, and road rage is not as serious as wearing a low-cut blouse on an airplane (I've never done either).
Anyway, I could go on, Matt. But if this is the kind of blogging you're gonna do, keep it coming! It sounds just like you, which to me is the key to great writing.
Now, as Jack Cafferty would say. "Wolf."
Post a Comment