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10799887 tn?1417236469

ADDICTION a DISEASE???????

Hey,  I would like to have peoples views on addiction being a disease.  I have had this DRILLED into my head so much, I am beginning to believe that it is a self fulfilling prophecy.  I do not want to live in a world where I am forced to view myself as sick.  Is it possible that back in the day, when addiction was marked a disease that they didn't know what to call it?  How we were all just classified as sick people so there was an excuse for our behavior.  So really we are all walking around making a terrible excuse? I'm starting to this I am an alcoholic/addict is just an excuse.  We are sick people trying to be well.  If we keep telling ourselves that, then wouldn't it come to be?  I think EVERYONE can benefit from the 12 steps but this telling myself every day that I have a disease and am sick is for the birds in my eyes. These are the questions I am asking myself lately. I find it hard to believe that it is so cut and dry. What are your views/thoughts?
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Avatar universal
Hi lins  just a tidbit here as we go threw the room and say our names it is like  ''mark addict''....some will say ''Mark addict in recovery'' it takes some of the bit out of it regardless of what you call it as long as your getting recovery thats all that maters im sure you will be fine you know what you need to do to recover we will be here to help so keep posting ........Gnarly............
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10799887 tn?1417236469
My issue is... In meetings Identifying over and over again that I am and alcoholic/addict.  Why would I keep creating alcoholic/addict.  I believe that thoughts and language form who you are.  I think that I have been being told that I have a disease before I ever even got high/drunk and thrown in aa meetings at age 13. I think it's an over used diagnosis.  Yes I have been powerless over alcohol and drugs in the past, NO I do not want to use, Yes I think the 12 steps EVERYONE should practice.  I am un willing to conform and conceive to my innermost self that I have a disease.  If one believes they have a disease, a disease will form and grow. if I hang out with people that are getting high, I am eventually going to get high.  That goes for EVERYONE!   It works for some people.  I've been in and out of the program.  I never believed it when people said that AA brainwashes people because it helps so many people.  Now that I have this new outlook I can see where those people were coming from.  Announcing EVERY DAY, sometimes 2+ times in a meeting that " Hi, I'm Lindsey, I am an alcoholic "  I think is counter intuitive.  Recreating a problem that we are trying to fix.  If one goes back out, of course the same stuff is going to happen.  It's been drilled into their heads the out come.
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Avatar universal
I hate that word, i dont want a disease i want a cure
then I got high again
I surrendered
I have a disease
I still dont want a disease but i dont know any normal person who would do the things I have done
or would have used against their will
I am an addict names heather and I have a disease called addiction
and it *****
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Avatar universal
Someone who has an addiction and why some people refer to the addiction as a "DISEASE" is because the drug that we become addicted to can be habit forming and can affect you and the people around you as well. I am an addict and i take full rsponsibility for my actions. When I was in my addiction I would have withdrawls and before I used I would physically get sick until that first hit or smoke. Someone mentioned that we just stimulate a certain part of our brain with drugs and when the high is over depression sets in and they are so right. When we choose to use a drug that we already know is going to change our attitude because it makes us happier or productive, I believe we are just telling ourselves a lie,without the drug im depressed or cant get motivated. I know that being sober and living a clean life has its ups and downs but living a drug life can only cause you grief. Calling your addictiion a disease or not does not matter Its overcoming that addiction that really matters.
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Avatar universal
t is a disease of the brain.People become reliant on the drug and cant stop using which in extreme cases until death.What is "rock bottom to a drug attic?"......."DEATH".Drugs stimulate nuerotransmitters deep down n the brain.Certain drugs trigger certian nuerons/transmitters.EX:amphetamines stimuate a nuerotransmitter called dopamine.Its what causes us to feel good and like thngs.AKA the pleasure chemical of the brain.So much that the brain cant pass it through our nuerons causng an overload which our brain actually opens up to make room for.Now when the euphoria passes, the surge of dopamne slowly wears down toits natural load.Causing the room for the overload to become empty which therefor gives us depression do to the lack of pleasure we were used to feeling while high. I can go on for days about indivdual drugs and their effects on the brain but to really trip your mind is this.........Your body already has and experiences all drugs have to offer naturally in our brain.We simply stimulate whats already exssting within our brain.You couldnt feel t otherwise.The recepters and nuerotransmitters exsst from birth and when stimulated by natural substances(all drugs derve from some plant)they stimulate into a "high".....Hope you understood what I am gettng at.Gotta go
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Avatar universal
I think that while many people are predisposed towards addiction if exposed to addictive substances its a very complex subject (the rat park experiment is very interesting if anyone has read the study).

Things like our environment, our relationships with others and the basic choices we make can determine whether someone predisposed to addiction actually engages in active addiction (many don't). At the end of the day disease or not we all have choices and sometimes maybe the disease angle gives us rationalization over our own bad choices and mistakes.

Obviously it would help if those who are predisposed to addiction weren't exposed to addictive substances but in the real world that's not really possible so we all have to try to make the wisest choices we can and not let a natural predisposition to destructive behaviour ruin the one life we own.
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