The only people who believe in this new-age, ‘it’s not my fault’ version of the disease model are either addicts who selfishly refuse to get better or parents of addicts who want to believe the lies their addicts tell them in order to continue using and doing what they want.
The Disease Model is widely misunderstood, and should not be used to abscond the addict from the responsibility of becoming addicted or the harmful behavior that ensues. Addiction is entirely different from typical ‘diseases’ that actually lie beyond our control.
A child with cancer is the polar opposite of a selfish teenager mutating himself into a full blown drug addict. A child stricken with cancer is beyond his or her control, while the acquisition of addiction is self-induced. The medical community is peddling an all-out lie on this one, and it is dangerous.
Let’s get a grip here. Addict’s brains are not preset for addiction. Before I became an addict, my brain was no different than any other normal person. I changed my brain by drinking and using non-stop, year after year. By the time my teenage years were over, I had successfully changed my brain to now respond differently to drugs and alcohol.
Having no control is acquired through habitual self-abuse. It is pure myth that there are all of these people walking around who are latent drug addicts while everybody else has a non-addict brain. It is pure myth that latent drug addicts just suddenly spring into active addicts in a moral vacuum.
It is time for someone to tell the truth that the disease model as presently constructed is delusional. Addiction is not a pre-existing disease. It is a self-created one. Sure the brain changes over time but it is no different to the changes that occur with any repeated behavior such as over-eating, promiscuity, gambling, violence, rage, narcissism, psychopathology and so forth.
You’re telling me that someone who jerks off 40 times a day has a brain that is pre-wired for pathological masturbation but that that part of the brain sits latent until woken up one day in the shower? That is completely insane and you poor parents and addicts out there are being fed this stuff by people trying to rationalize addiction and protect themselves or their addicted child from judgement or stigma, which is, by the way, good for us. How misguided it is for the ‘media doctors’ (fake doctors specifically hired to deliver propaganda to the masses) to pump these lies all over our mainstream news outlets.
Please read, Sorry Folks, We’re Not Sad Little Children.
Do you really think that becoming an alcoholic or a drug addict is truly not our fault? The ‘it’s not my fault’ version of the disease model along with the ‘fight the stigma’ nonsense is ridiculous. It is doing nothing but helping addicts to avoid accountability for their addiction. It cultivates the precise attitude that causes us to relapse and it is therefore lethal. To dismiss the personal actions and behavior of the drug addict prior to and during the process of becoming an addict, not to mention the damage and the horrors we inflict once we get there is a moral crime.
Please read, Addiction Is a Moral Failure, Obviously.
I feel sorry for those who say addiction is a brain disease and not a moral problem, and cannot even entertain the notion that OBVIOUSLY both are involved. But to deny that a failure in one’s moral compass has to do with forming and maintaining an addiction is completely blind. You cannot be an addict without doing the wrong thing, and there is no way around that. Why is it that dry addicts who continue to do the wrong thing cannot stay sober? Why is it that dry addicts who dedicate their lives to doing the right thing stay sober?
Please.
So sorry to burst your bubble, but you have to have truly lost it or be brainwashed by some idiot TV doctor to deny the moral component of addiction, so please go ahead and unbrainwash yourself because we need people who actually have a clue about addiction to fast grow in numbers so that we can get more people better.
Why can't POAs get this? It really is common sense, no? I think we (POAs) often throw logic and reason out the window in the chaos of dealing with our addicted child. I do not think like the majority of parents in this war. I do not ascribe to the notion that my son is a victim of a disease, but rather that my son altered his brain by long term abuse of multiple drugs and alcohol, made worse by partaking in these activities before his brain was fully formed and before he had the ability to see around corners, so to speak. He was out to have fun (not become an addict), but at some point he found himself unable to stop under his own power. He was left with an allergy to all mind altering substances FOR LIFE! That would never change, but his desire to use could be removed with the right set of steps and the grace of the One who created him…AND he could be happy doing it!!!
I also don't believe that parents need to recover just like our addicts. What the hell did I do? I am a generous, thoughtful, caring mom who loves God and my family. But I do believe that anyone can benefit from the steps to grow spiritually closer to our HP….but that is for another post, I suppose. lol
Never stop writing this blog!
Thank you – I needed to read this tonight.
Common sense, indeed, though common sense is uncommon. As well, and as you alluded to, the chaos alone can skew perception. Plus I also think it's difficult for people to understand something they haven't experienced directly, although you do, which is as refreshing as it is unique. That kind of clarity and understanding is quite valuable… which is why we need you 😉 I also agree that loved ones only need to recover from something if there is something to recover from, and ever then, they can do whatever they want, as it is unrelated to the addict's responsibility to change and begin living right. How is your son doing, by the way?
You are so welcome. And thank you so much for reading.