Is Drug Addiction a Disease?

[loricatus]

My daughter just asked me this question since she has a debate coming up with this topic for her Medical Sociology college class. It got me thinking ; and, I'm curious as to how others in our profession feel about it. By the way, she has been assigned the con position.

[lauralassie]

The law treats it as a catch-22. If you get caught at work being intoxicated or taking illegal drugs, you can legally be fired and there isn't any recourse an employee has.

However, if you have a documented case of alcoholism or drug addiction, then you fall under ADA.

I consider alcoholism and drug addiction (with rare exceptions), self-inflicted injury.

Then you could also consider heart disease, cad, some forms of lung ca to be selfinflicted. Just like any other disease they must take the disease by the horns so to speak to recover, that involves many different aspects of recovery.

[Ado Annie, ASN, RN]

The guy who taught my psych class insisted that alcoholism and drug addiction do not qualify as diseases, and claims the US has failed because we keep defining them as such. Claims Europe doesn't, and has better success. Also thinks the "war on drugs" is a useless farce. I think he goes too far, but don't know what evidence he has to back up his claims RE: addiction is not a disease.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

No, i do not agree that drug addiction is a disease.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Yes it is a disease, but NO not an "excuse"! Having been personally affected by alcohol- addicted parents and others in my family, I can only say that much. I can't add to the words of our more savvy members before me.

[TazziRN, RN]

Yes, it is a disease. Chemical dependency can be hereditary, therefore it is a medical/mental illness.

Tazzi

3-28-94

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Definitely a disease....

[sam56]

I have mixed feelings. I do believe it is a mental illness, but comparing it to heart disease or diabetes is a stretch. I have a couple of good friends who have been through treatment and taught me alot about spirituality. I work for an organization that employs most of the healthcare workers in a major city(6 hospitals, multiple clinics, etc.). Their policy is "a once in a lifetime treatment for any type of substance abuse". It seems pretty unbelieveable to me in this day and age especially with data that suggests people with substance abuse issues are prone to relapse. I would venture to guess my employer does NOT feel it is a disease.

[shellek]

addiction is a disease

tolerance is not

there is a difference

addiction is when it affect your life, family, or performing daily activities

tolerance is -well is just a level of needing more for the desired affect, which should not give a feeling of euphoria or interupt in daily living,or relationships

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

No, i do not agree that drug addiction is a disease.

It is a disease of the MID-brain, not the cerebral cortex. You become addicted on an unconscious level. Therefore simply applying wll does not change things. The addicted brain looks different on a PET scan. Recovery shows identifiable changes on objective radiological scans. We're nurses and our 'tudes towards whether or not something is a disease should be based on SCIENCE - not what we learned in Sunday school, on the streets or from our families. Throw off the reigns of ignorance everybody and do the best for your patients. Even in the holding area, we can intervene on our addicts. The shopping addiction bone is connected to the gambling addiction bone which is connected to the drug addiction bone - its all physiologically linked together.

[NightOwl0624]

This is from NAMI concerning mental illness and substance abuse dual diagnosis:

How often do people with severe mental illnesses also experience a co-occurring substance abuse problem?

There is a lack of information on the numbers of people with co-occurring disorders, but research has shown the disorders are very common. According to reports published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA):

• Roughly 50 percent of individuals with severe mental disorders are affected by substance abuse.
  
• Thirty-seven percent of alcohol abusers and 53 percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness.
  
• Of all people diagnosed as mentally ill, 29 percent abuse either alcohol or drugs.

The ECA Survey found that individuals with severe mental disorders were at significant risk for developing a substance use disorder during their lifetime. Specifically:

• 47 percent of individuals with schizophrenia also had a substance abuse disorder (more than four times as likely as the general population).
  
• 61 percent of individuals with bipolar disorder also had a substance abuse disorder (more than five times as likely as the general population).

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=54&ContentID=23049

[5418ujyyhbewbttberbr]

I think of it more as an attempt to treat a disease. Drug addicts are really just trying to treat a large health issue...many times depression.

[cracilla]

this certainly makes a good point,i'd like to see the response of others on this topic which makes this interesting for reading.a step-by-step instructions on this could be very well appreciated, i think this is a great place to test out new ideas. in fact, i could get some real nuggets here that i'm going to use right away!

drug-free addiction treatment: "stop addiction to sex, drugs, alcohol or even to the net",

www.understanding-addiction.com

www.stop-addictions-secrets.com