<p>Welcome, Dave. Congrats on your own personal miracle. :)</p>
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<p>That’s not what I said at all so I’m going to guess you’re not fully recovered. Was there any permanent damage?</p>
<p>There is a special place in hell for people who lack compassion for those who have had significant health challenges. Long before hell is reached, karma in this life can really be a humbling experience. Good luck with that.</p>
<p>Amen, spidey.</p>
<p>People in the mental health industry say addiction is a disease to make people feel like it’s not their fault, and then push people to accept a higher power as the answer to addiction. Treatment is an incredibly manipulative process that wants patients to not feel like **** for doing drugs. No, doing drugs does not make you a bad person. But it is a conscious decision. There is a thought process each time you do it. It just gets easier to drift off as things progress. The whole disease concept is ********. I have been around this stuff a lot, have had a ton of experience with people in the field and those going through SA issues, been around a lot of things, and the disease thing is BS. Treatment is about having a person identify a problem, accept it, feel bad about it without living in regret, throw yourself to a higher power and bam, once you find god, everything is better. The people say it’s a disease because it does do a lot of damage to a lot of people, but unlike other illnesses, it is above all a series of choices. Constant drug use damages the brain, which is a reason that people call it a disease. But it’s a disease, like certain other diseases, that is 100% preventable.
At Case, we have a Recovery House which is substance free housing with treatment options. One f the first schools to do it. Case is very proud of it.</p>
<p>It’s obvious when people who can’t really imagine addiction try to join in on debates like this. They always spout BS like “addiction isn’t a disease because it’s always a free choice to do drugs”.</p>
<p>You know what? Yes, addiction isn’t that similar to other diseases, because of the fact that you do have to choose to take drugs. But you know what? When you’re addicted, you can’t just decide “hey, you know what, I don’t really want to do this any more”. Your body and brain are both quite adamant that you need to take the drug.</p>
<p>Now, granted, it’s not a disease in the sense that unless you go to a doctor and get treated you’re completely helpless. And maybe calling it a disease does get people into that mindset more than they should. But which is better: telling addicts that they can’t do anything about it but go to some doctor, or telling addicts that it’s completely their fault they are not quitting right now?</p>
<p>What amarkov said.</p>
<p>Many people quit smoking through sheer willpower but they will all tell you that it’s one of the most difficult things they’ve ever done. If you notice a co-worker or friend who smokes is suddenly always in a bad mood and can’t focus, it’s probably because he’s trying to quit. His body wants, needs that nicotine fix and it shows. Compare that to a person who quits using something like Chantix and you’ll probably find that the person using Chantix has a much easier time.</p>
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<p>i was saying that we could study drug addiction to find out whether we have free will at all</p>
<p>but apparently that means i hate drug addicts and have a special place in hell :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I have been through treatment, went to AA and NA meetings, talked to countless people in the mental health field for the past year, and they are full of *<strong><em>. They have no evidence backing their claims, they lie and manipulate people, and they try and force religion on people. I’ve been through a lot of this stuff, and people are just looking to excuse their actions. They blame EVERYONE except themselves. Seriously. I have dealt with so many people who just love the fact that these counselors say it’s a “progressive and chronic disease.” It’s part of the whole let’s make everyone feel loved and important, pretend we care about their lives, talk about our feelings, find god and BAM! Everythings better. Unless you’ve directly dealt with these disillusioned people (now i commend them for really believing what they do and caring about people), you have no idea how unfounded their claims are. It’s manipulative, it’s a program and they’re taught to use a certain formula to “cure” people. If you do anything outside of that formula, they don’t know what to do or how to help you. And they shove god down your throat. You pray and talk about “spirtuality” and they try and lie to you and say it’s not religious. The 12 steps explicitly mention god. AA is the whole group accountability approach- of you think you have friends and people that care about you (because when you throw everything away you tend to lose a lot of friends), you are more likely to succeed. It’s all basic pyschology. AA is a bunch of BS if you’ve ever read the big book. It tells people to help others in order not to help the other person, but to help themselves. It’s all very selfish, and a lot of people in AA think they are better people because they’ve been through *</em></strong>. I hated how manipulative the whole thing was and how facist AA is. It’s great for a lot of people, and it helps a lot of people, but it is not for me. It was the biggest waste of time and money for me, I found other people and ways much more helpful. The superficiality of it all is just sickening. It is so manipulative, the disease concept is a myth used by doctor’s to help people recover, so they don’t fall into a cycle of self loathing. People are willing to buy into it because it makes them feel better. There is absolutely no factual proof provided by these people that supports such a claim. At all. It’s a series of bad choices repeated over a period of time, it’s not like some infection. It’s all about making the right choices for your life. You can choose to throw it all away, and you can pick up the pieces down the road. Either way, it’s you who decides what to do with your life. But hey, if telling people addiction is a disease helps people, keep doing it.</p>