Nico:
The average guy on the street associates disease with something one has no control over acquiring.
The average guy on the street doesn't know much about anything. He needs to educate himself better and take a more active role in his own health. I realize the word disease has that connotation, but that kind of thinking is what leads to acceptance of ridiculous ideas like "only gays get HIV." Willful ignorance doesn't make you less susceptible to reality. If doctors based their treatment on what the "average" person thinks, and not science/reality, we'd all be screwed.
Using the word disease, to describe a self inflicted drug addiction, removes the responsibilty for acquiring the addiction in the first place.
Yes, some people will say "I have a disease, there's nothing I can do about it." Those people are ignorant and need to suck it up and take responsibility for themselves. That doesn't change the facts that addiction fits any objective definition of disease you can come up with and using a disease model has proven to be the best way to treat addiction. I know you said they can all go to hell, but I'm willing to bet you come in contact with at least one recovering addict on a regular basis, who is leading a productive life. Two of the recovering addicts I've had talks with at school are physicians. They lead productive lives,
choose not to do drugs, and no one they work with knows about their addiction.
It's all about spin.
It's all about money.
There are people who rely on the average guy's stupidity to fund their pet project with the "it's a disease, they can't help it" line. But, their abuse of other people's ignorance doesn't change reality. Saying that addiction is not a disease just spins the facts to make people feel less responsible for their own welfare.
And using disease to describe chemical dependence/drug addiction is intellectual dishonesty.
Pretending that addiction isn't a disease for political expedience, or that a person with a disease can't help it is intellectual dishonesty.
fwiw, addiction and physical dependence aren't necessarily the same thing (addiction often includes physical dependence, but you can be physically dependent on a drug and not be addicted).
Just to illustrate the point I'm trying to make: I've mentioned several times on this board that I'm in dental school. This summer I'm starting to see patients full time. Most of the patients at my school come in with some level of periodontal disease, which is an infection of the gums that results mainly from poor oral hygiene (if someone tries to argue it's not a disease, my head will explode, and you will be responsible
). With the most serious perio cases, we'll have the patient come back every couple of months for cleanings. But, no matter what I do every 6, 3, or even 2 months, if the patient doesn't start brushing their teeth, they're not going to get better. If I just accept that my patients think that because they have a disease they're not responsible for their own health, and do nothing to educate them, their teeth will fall out. There are plenty of patients at the school with IQs much lower than average, who understand that periodontal disease is a disease
AND that they have to take care of themselves for it to get better, so I have some faith that the average guy on the street can learn that diseases can be self inflicted. Lowering yourself to the status quo when you should know better doesn't help anyone.
