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I don't think addiction is a disease or a moral failing, it's more a product of the environment of the addict. Case in point: up to 20% of soldiers in Vietnam

I don't think addiction is a disease or a moral failing, it's more a product of the environment of the addict. Case in point: up to 20% of soldiers in Vietnam were addicted to heroin during the war, and up to 40% had tried it, but when they came home only about 5% remained addicted. See: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1521-0391.2010.00046.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1521-0391.... There are many factors in a person's life that lead to addiction, and while I'm not an expert, I think there needs to be a formalized system of getting people out of the environments in which they became addicted as part of the treatment.

kjeetgill 8y ago
> formalized system of getting people out of the environments in which they became addicted as part of the treatment. Isn't that what going to rehab is about? For those who can afford it atleast...
- CptFribble 8y ago
  I guess I mean, changing environments after rehab. The problem many recovering addicts face, is that even if they get to go to rehab, they return to the same stressful home life/enabling friends/underemployment that pushed them into addiction in the first place. I guess what I'm saying is that rehab without job training/support and relocation assistance of some kind is doomed to high recidivism. (If the word recidivism applies to rehab, not sure if that's proper usage here)
dragonwriter 8y ago
> I don't think addiction is a disease or a moral failing, it's more a product of the environment of the addict. Diseases are very often products of the environment.
- CptFribble 8y ago
  That's very true. I guess I'm referring to "disease" in a too-narrow pathological sense. We're all complex open systems so of course disease and environment are intertwined, I just find that when lay-people like me refer to addiction as disease, they typically mean a narrow definition of "let's find a problem with your brain that we can fix," and not much else. Maybe I was addressing an imaginary counter-argument!

kjeetgill 8y ago

> formalized system of getting people out of the environments in which they became addicted as part of the treatment. Isn't that what going to rehab is about? For those who can afford it atleast...

CptFribble 8y ago
I guess I mean, changing environments after rehab. The problem many recovering addicts face, is that even if they get to go to rehab, they return to the same stressful home life/enabling friends/underemployment that pushed them into addiction in the first place. I guess what I'm saying is that rehab without job training/support and relocation assistance of some kind is doomed to high recidivism. (If the word recidivism applies to rehab, not sure if that's proper usage here)

dragonwriter 8y ago

> I don't think addiction is a disease or a moral failing, it's more a product of the environment of the addict. Diseases are very often products of the environment.

CptFribble 8y ago
That's very true. I guess I'm referring to "disease" in a too-narrow pathological sense. We're all complex open systems so of course disease and environment are intertwined, I just find that when lay-people like me refer to addiction as disease, they typically mean a narrow definition of "let's find a problem with your brain that we can fix," and not much else. Maybe I was addressing an imaginary counter-argument!