09/12/2022
Carolyn S. Rigiero, CCHT
Relapse Prevention Specialist
EFT-Advanced
Tap_it_down@yahoo.com
The Concept of Alcohol and Drug Addiction as Disease
In 2014, President Obama named the month of September as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. The proclamation included the following statement: “Research shows addiction is a chronic disease of the brain which can be prevented and treated. However, the stigma associated with this disease – and the false belief that addiction represents a personal failing – creates fear and shame that discourages people from seeking treatment and prevents them from fully rejoining and contributing to their communities.”
Those of us who live in families of second hand drinking and/or second hand drugging, (i.e. family members are directly affected physically, emotionally, mentally and financially, by the abuser’s actions) have often questioned the disease theory, as has the public. I have pondered this question myself. I have come to the conclusion, however, that there exists in the addict a disease that once wasn’t present…until it was. Let me explain:
It has been said that we all have the propensity for addiction to one extent or another, but we all don’t become addicts. Initially, indulging was a “choice”, and came before the disease of addiction was introduced. There are multiple reasons for the choice: Trauma, peer pressure, curiosity, the desire to feel different from the way one currently feels, wanting to escape current reality, anxiety, stress, rebellion, etc. Some of the substances one uses are dangerously addictive and depending on the person, even a first use sets up an addiction.
When this happens, the brain is altered and if one accepts the definition of disease from Dictionary.com (see below), addiction then becomes a disease, meaning it wasn’t there, until it was, because of certain factors:
“…disease is a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors….”
Within this definition are the words “poisons” and “toxicity”. Alcohol is poisonous and toxic to the body when it is abused. Addictive drugs, legally prescribed or otherwise, are also. And both set up a “disordered or incorrectly functioning organ…” Substance abuse creates havoc with multiple organs in the body, specifically, the brain, liver and kidneys. If the addiction becomes overwhelming and acute, the organs can fail and without medical intervention, death often ensues.
The brain is particularly affected by alcohol and drug abuse, as it is rather accommodating and adjusts easily. In its natural state, the brain is in equilibrium, or, in a stable state. The introduction of a poisonous substance disrupts this stable environment and with continual use, the brain adjusts to, and anticipates, this new environment to be the new norm.
The reason for this lies in the “neuroplasticity” of the brain. When you learn a process, the brain forges a neural pathway. Over time, that particular pathway becomes familiar and worn-in, making that process easier and easier to employ. That’s why we say “Practice makes perfect”. However, when you place an obstacle in the stable brain’s path, (drugs, and alcohol) the brain has to compensate for this new obstacle, by forging a new pathway, thus destabilizing what was once stable. This new “stability” is why relapse is so common. Trying to re-forge that earlier pathway is difficult because now the brain needs the amount of stimulation it received from the secondary pathway. However, with persistence and support, because of the neuroplasticity of the brain and the ability of the brain to heal, we can be successful in overcoming addiction.
Like any other disease, addiction has a genesis which, early on, may not be recognized as life-altering. One may not even be aware that an internal change has been made from stability to disease, until the equilibrium of one’s life has become distorted, and the propensity for disease becomes fact. It is this instability that creates the pathology of disease. And it is this disease that without intervention, sustains the addiction.
