Oh, if it isn't "specific enough", then its not a disease. Well, we're getting somewhere, maybe. I haven't seen any definition of disease that involves "specific enough" or that excludes "cognitive problems like negative automatic thoughts, anxiety, lack of sound sleep and a host of other causes", as causation, symptoms, or contributing factors, but that's OK.
I think what happened was that your expectation was that I didnt like to have a narrow definition as a basis. But in fact I dont find your suggested definition of disease to be narrow enough to be of any use. Which makes a few odd misunderstandings likely.
Why are you so obsessed with the topic? What do you want from us?
I try to avoid insulting adjectives. Please reciprocate.
Besides that: Addiction is a huge factor in making life unnecessarily hard and painful for a lot of people. I dont find that I am "obsessed" about it, but it is something that I like to find better answers for. "Each to their own" as you know.
You still didn't answer my question -- do you think addiction is a malady, a disorder, a sickness, something-fucking-wrong, whatever, but not the dreaded D-word, and why?
I have tried to explain my position, but perhaps it is not easy to understand. Perhaps scientific training helps, but cognitive brain science gets really complicated really fast if you are not used to the concepts.
If you read the linked article (Shippenberg) you will get a sense of the discussion as it currently is.
If you just want to know what most people think, then addiction as disease is right on the money. But that view hasnt got much solid science backing it.
My view a bit simplified: I tend to think that severe and deep stress is a huge factor in most cases, but other causes can be dominant in other cases. I dont think that drugs causes addiction by way of chemistry as opposed to just being another stress factor.
Lewis is one of many who currently doubts the "addiction as disease" view. But this position is also only slowly maturing into something solid.
And, do you think bipolar disorder, major depression, schizophrenia and other so-called "mental diseases" are diseases or just disorders or something other than the dreaded "D-word"?
This is something that will be uncovered in the next 50 years or so. Nobody really understand how the brain works at this point in time. And the subject is way off topic here.
To me, addiction fits with every definition of disease that I have seen, so I conclude it's a disease.
It would seem that we have to agree to disagree.
Where this will be important in real life is when you make choices about how to help yourself or loved ones. Do you give in to "the inevitable"? Do you rearrange your life to take care of vulnerabilities. There are practical implications to these very different views.
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