Models_Of_Disease

Models Of Disease Is drinking too much a behavior -- something that a problem drinker does' Or is it a disease -- something that he or she has' While a theory of addiction as a disease has prevailed among some professionals for over thirty years, other professionals believe addiction to be a learned behavior and a harmful habit that can lead to physical diseases. One metaphor used to describe this difference concerns the smoking of cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes can lead to lung cancer, which is a disease, but the activity of smoking is, in itself, a behavior. Cancer is the disease. Smoking is not cancer. (The Diseasing of Addiction in America by Patricia Hirsch) The disease model of addiction has its basis in physiology. Initially it was conceived as an allergic reaction and later as a genetic predisposition. The model views addiction as a progressive disease with the elemental symptoms of craving, loss of control, progressive deterioration. Newer definitions have added psychosocial factors along with a preoccupation with the drug, use despite negative consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial. It has also been described as an illness that is physical, mental, and spiritual in nature. Applying this model, the addict or alcoholic disease, addiction, model, theory, walters, treatment, drug, concept, behavior, been, smoking, medical, dr, addictive, addicted, view, professionals, makes, lifestyle, just, drugs, cancer, book, believes, believe, behaviors, 1999, understanding, truth, thus, suggests, strengths, something, self-fulfilling, research, recovery