Addiction – Choice Vs Disease

The first people that we might think of when the word addiction is mentioned are drug addicts, alcohol addicts, gambling addicts, and smoking addicts.  It is true that these are the most visible kind of people that we easily associate with addiction but the term addiction is much broader than this narrow conception.   Addiction can also be associated with other people that engage in behaviour such as exercise, sex, and food.  This view becomes less controversial to accept after going through the definition of addiction.  Addiction is characterised by the tendency to engage in behaviour repeatedly regardless of its consequences on health, social or legal issues, and the inability to control such behaviour.  As you can see from this definition the two conditions necessary for the existence of addiction are persistence on behaviour and lack of control over it.

There are two schools of thought about addiction.  The first is that addiction is a choice and not a disease.  Addicts choose to engage in addictive behaviour which many of us consider harmful.  They gamble away their money, drink alcohol excessively, and take too much drugs without thinking twice about the aftermath of their behaviour.  Therefore they should be held accountable for this behaviour in the same way that non addicts are held accountable for their action.     But this view seems to ignore some important questions about addiction.  What leads addicts to choose their behaviour?  What restrains us from becoming addicts?  Do we have stronger willpower than addicts?

The second school of thought about addiction is that the behaviour is a disease and not a choice.  If you accept this view, addicts such as gambling, alcohol or drug addicts cannot be held responsible for their behaviour regardless of how we might perceive it.  Instead they should be offered support and treatment to overcome their condition.   But excusing addiction for disease might be tantamount to granting people the licence to engage in addictive behaviour.

Neither of these perspectives can provide satisfactory explanation for addiction.  In my own view, addiction can arise from a combination of the two perspectives.  Nevertheless, society should do whatever it takes to help and support addicts to overcome their behaviour, and remove conditions capable of giving rise to addiction such as putting tighter regulations on gambling houses.  The earlier this is done the better it will be for our society.