Choice vs. Disease
Running Head: CHOICE VS. DISEASE
Addiction: Choice vs. Disease
Danny O’Dell
Kaplan University
CM220-14AU
Professor Pappas
January 16, 2010
Johnny 's heart is beating at over a hundred and thirty beats per minute. He can 't sleep again and is sweating profusely. Johnny hears a voice saying "Don 't do it Johnny. You know how this will end." Then he hears another louder, more insistent voice saying to him, “Come on Johnny, no one will know. Just one more time and then we will stop”. Johnny is disgusted with himself as he reaches for the phone to make that call to his drug connection. How do we help someone like Johnny? Some people would say that all Johnny needs is to make a conscious decision to not use and to punish or threaten him until he stops. This is the crux of what is known as the choice argument: Addiction is a behavior and therefore is a choice not a disease. To be honest the choice argument is a strong argument and is the best reason for not calling addiction a disease. To call addiction a disease and not a choice, evidence will need to show the flaws in calling addiction a choice, show how drugs of abuse work, how addiction fits into the disease model, identify what organ is primarily affected, and be able to recognize what the symptoms of drug addiction are.
There are some very educated individuals who believe that addition is a behavior and that behaviors are a result of choices. According to Gene Heyman, a Harvard psychologist, drug addiction is a choice, not a disease. In his book, Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, Heyman states that addiction is not a disease and that it is a pattern of persistent but optional self-destructive behaviors (2009). He disputes Alan Leshner, former head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who has stated that "drug use starts off voluntary and becomes involuntary" (Gillis, 2009) Heyman bases this upon,
Addiction: Choice vs. Disease
Danny O’Dell
Kaplan University
CM220-14AU
Professor Pappas
January 16, 2010
Johnny 's heart is beating at over a hundred and thirty beats per minute. He can 't sleep again and is sweating profusely. Johnny hears a voice saying "Don 't do it Johnny. You know how this will end." Then he hears another louder, more insistent voice saying to him, “Come on Johnny, no one will know. Just one more time and then we will stop”. Johnny is disgusted with himself as he reaches for the phone to make that call to his drug connection. How do we help someone like Johnny? Some people would say that all Johnny needs is to make a conscious decision to not use and to punish or threaten him until he stops. This is the crux of what is known as the choice argument: Addiction is a behavior and therefore is a choice not a disease. To be honest the choice argument is a strong argument and is the best reason for not calling addiction a disease. To call addiction a disease and not a choice, evidence will need to show the flaws in calling addiction a choice, show how drugs of abuse work, how addiction fits into the disease model, identify what organ is primarily affected, and be able to recognize what the symptoms of drug addiction are.
There are some very educated individuals who believe that addition is a behavior and that behaviors are a result of choices. According to Gene Heyman, a Harvard psychologist, drug addiction is a choice, not a disease. In his book, Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, Heyman states that addiction is not a disease and that it is a pattern of persistent but optional self-destructive behaviors (2009). He disputes Alan Leshner, former head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who has stated that "drug use starts off voluntary and becomes involuntary" (Gillis, 2009) Heyman bases this upon,
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