A Disease??

[njshar]

If drug addiction is a disease, say like diabetes or cancer, why does the afflicted person feel so much shame and rejection??  I have been on again, off again addict.  My family has been there when I have needed them.  Now that I am "on again", why are my loved ones excluding me from holiday get togethers??  Or family parties??  It hurts so badly.  I feel as though they are sick and tired of my relapses, and truly dissapointed in me when I have relapsed in the past.  This time they are excluding me from the holiday family get togethers.  It hurts so badly.  

Back to my quesiton, If addiction truly is a disease, why is there so much shame?????

[nursegirl6572]

This is a great discussion.

What I have learned and what I believe is that addiction isn't necessarily a "disease" as we would classify cancer, or diabetes.  Those are physical abnormalities in the body that we TRULY have no control over.

Addiction boils down to behavior and psychology.  People become addicted in many different ways.  Some from chasing a recreational high, some as a result of chronic pain issues, etc etc.  Addiction is diagnosed as a psychological disorder, just as depression, anxiety, OCD, etc.  Psychiatrists use the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (or DSM) to diagnose a mental disorder.  Substance abuse is diagnosed using the same manual.  Unlike a PHYSICAL disease or disorder, which can be Dx-ed using lab work, and X-Rays.....a psychological disorder is dxed by a person meeting so many characteristics that fits that disorder.

Is there a genetic component?  I think you'd be hard pressed to find a doctor or psychiatrist who DOESN'T believe that.  There have been innumerable studies that show a very strong link in families for any psychological disorder, especially addiction problems..

The guilt and shame comes from ownership.  While addicts eventually become pretty much powerless over the substance...it still boils down to a BEHAVIOR.  Quitting abuse of a substance isn't IMPOSSIBLE, it CAN be done....it is just the hardest thing under the sun.  However, the whole process is essentially a behavior...whether intentional or not......a person with cancer doesn't "choose" to have cancer....whereas an addict SOMEHWERE along the line loses control...and everything that results...all the turmoil, the family problems, money issues...you name it...are a direct result of that "choice".  How COULDN'T there be shame and guilt?

I wish there WAS more compassion for addicts and people that struggle with this...it would make getting help that much easier.

Anyway....this is a debate that will be around forever.  Just as alcoholism being classified as a "disease".  Same thing.  Ini many ways...the genetic predisposition so many people have for alcoholism or substance abuse makes it hard to ignore that as a possibility....but again....it differs from an actual physiological alteration in the body that is present with a disease like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

Any which way...regardless of "how" it is classified...I strongly feel that an addict deserves that same compassion and support that someone with cancer would get.  Sure, the mechanisms are different....but each person needs support and help to beat it.  The one wonderful thing is......it isn't impossible.  It may seem that way...but recovery IS possible...as we've seen here time and time again.  That in itself should give people a lot of hope.

[worried878]

I no longer feel ashamed about this problem..not sure if if it is a disease or not....but there are other diseases that carry shame for some..HIV, hep C..some cancers...leporacy used to carry alot of shame with it...impotence...to list a few....i am not sure what it is to be called but i do know as recovery goes on my shame was much less..no big secret anymore

[mjax024]

i promise i'm not trying to pick on you...but the class you're taking is part of the problem with the social stigma associated with addiction. if it's not a disease then 2 out of 3 people in this country make a daily choice to destroy their lives, families, jobs, relationships? this is why i believe addicts make the best counslers. the only reason that medicine wants to have addiction not classified as a disease is because then insurance companies get to stop paying for recovery, remember, the people here who were addicted to heroin didn't choose to pick up methadone, their doctor did, then when the methadone was a problem, the give suboxone. it can't be cured...only treated. we just need the medial community to see that it is a continus(sp) recovery. again, sorry, it's just a moody morning.
                                                             -mjax024

[tryinhard78]

This is from someone who comes from a family full of addicts...I believe there is a addiction gene. What I don't get is why some people in my family can use for years and just quit and be done and others like myself started using for pain and got addicted in a very short amount of time. I had taken pain pills a number of times and was able to just throw them out when I was done...I would have refils that I never refilled...what changed in me, what made me go from being able to throw them out when I was done to not being able to get enough? My sister was on pain pills for years...When her pain was gone she stopped taking them..just like that. She was on them for 5 years everyday and had no problems with quitting. I know I have ALOT of emotional baggage that she didn't have...is that why I got addicted? I know this doesn't make alot of sense and I am rambling but this subject gets me thinking.
   My husband did alot of research on addiction, so he could better understand what I was going through. He found out that 66% of americans are addicted to something....66% that is alot of people. I don't know what my point is but this post really got me thinking...Like my husband told me yesterday, We have nothing to be ashamed of...We didn't mean to get addicted and there are more people out there addicted then alot of people think. Hope this makes a little sense...its still early...lol. ~Susie

[avisg]

kim and sarah,
great posts very true

[mjax024]

addiction is a choice? i can kinda see that...i think that's what a room full of non-addicted people came up with. the decision to become clean is our choice. and i have a problem calling it a disease...that projects a promise of a cure...which there isn't. we're always gonna be addicts, always gonna be alcoholics, it doesn't go away. maybe think about it like a virus that goes into remission...cuz if we slip up, it's back. diseases don't do that. and the research i find shows that there is an addiction gene...the ones without it will abuse a drug, detox from it and be done, and i've seen it before, no cvravings, nothing...some people will have terrible cravings for months to years...these are the people i believe have the addict gene. i believe the gene is in my family. too many generations from different walks of life, different social ladder...and we're almost all addicts of sometype. i'm sorry if this sounded snippy...i've had a really bad couple days. just my thoughts.
                                                   -mjax024