Comment · Wed, December 19, 2012
Victim of PTSD gets addicted to MDMA due to self-medication
What they were answering
[deleted] · 0 points
The American Society of Addiction Medicine disagrees with you.
Here is the short definition, you might want to take a look at the longer version.
Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.
http://www.asam.org/advocacy/find-a-policy-statement/view-policy-statement/public-policy-statements/2011/12/15/the-definition-of-addiction
The National Institute on Drug Abuse also disagrees with you.
Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain; they change its structure and how it works. These brain changes can be long lasting and can lead to many harmful, often self-destructive, behaviors.
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/media-guide/science-drug-abuse-addiction
Drug addiction and gambling addiction are not the same thing. They are distinct from one another. Problem gambling isn't considered an addiction by the American Psychiatric Association. It's considered an impulse control disorder.
You keep talking about how addicti…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
Oh the irony indeed. The sources you linked are proving my point.
Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.
It's a mental problem with their reward pathways! It's not caused by drugs or actions themselves. The dysfunction in their brain chemistry and structure of their reward pathways causes them to seek out addictive substances and actions. Sure if they never took heroin they would not be addicted to heroin. That's pretty obvious. However, they would still have addictive tendencies that would make it possible for their addiction to take hold. Be that heroin, cocaine, gambling, skydiving, or another substance or activity that their brain would associate with pleasure.
Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain; they change its structure and how it works. These brain changes can be long lasting and can lead to many harmful, often self-destructive, behaviors.
They are not saying that drugs are what caused the dysfunction to begin with. They are saying that it's considered a disease because of drug changes in the brain after use. The brain's reward mechanisms get stronger with drug use, as they get with any repetitive activity that one enjoys. The mechanism is the same, but the changes make it harder to break the cycle. If it was not a dysfunction of one's brain pathways, then physical dependence would be the only barrier to ceasing the drug. This is obviously not the case, since they are psychologically addicted to the substance as well. This is what I mean by a mental problem. Physical dependence does not equal addiction!
You seem to be suggesting that a person can be a drug addict without ever having taken drugs.
That's ridiculous, and nowhere did I say that. They can, however, be predisposed to addictive tendencies. Someone with that mental dysfunction, who uses drugs, can lead to addiction. This is then exacerbated by the physical dependence due to down-regulation/up-regulation of receptors, enzyme alterations, and neuronal damage. The addiction and physical dependence are two separate issues. You are treating them as the same thing. They are not!