An Anti-Addiction Pill? – New York Times
A series of recent surveys sponsored by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and by Faces and Voices of Recovery, a recovery advocacy group, found that half the public called addiction a personal weakness. Among those who did see addiction as a disease, most put it in a special category of diseases that people get by making poor choices. In a 2004 poll of the general public, two-thirds said they believed that a stigma — usually defined as a thing that disgraces a person or injures one’s reputation — exists for people in recovery from addiction.
The pharmaceutical companies came to San Diego to argue that addiction is a chronic and recurring disease like diabetes or hypertension — and no one, they say, tells a diabetic to try to tough it out without insulin. They don’t discount the importance of environment in inducing addictive behavior or psychosocial interventions as part of the recovery process; in fact, most stress therapy as an essential adjunct to their products. But they insist that medications will stabilize addicts and make the deeper therapeutic and spiritual work more effective. (A long, but balanced article -free subscription required)
Thanx for that article…the reason most people attach a stigma to addiction is because the gen’l. public sees it as a weakness (as stated) & NOT a disease.This kind of crap gets my blood boiling. Many people don’t seek help & end up dead or worse (living their entire lives addicted & taking everyone they love down with them!) because they think they are weak & SHOULD be able to stop on their own……
I haven’t been up to much these days. Such is life. I’ve just been letting everything happen without me these days, but I don’t care.