Originally Posted by
A.A.Alfie
You are half right here.
Alcoholism is not a choice, drinking is. One will rarely know of they are going to be an alcoholic until it is too late.
Hobbies become obsessive, not addictive - the word addictive is being misused here. Hobbies are a mental obsession only. Addiction is the physical dependance coupled with the mental obsession.
The physical dependance is the what moves it from (say) a mental disorder to a disease.
I hope that helps clear things up.
Um, no.
It is the behavior that defines addiction, physical withdrawal symptoms are not needed. Now I know that you have probably been trained or something, but you are wrong in that.
There is addiction, there is addiction, there is no 'disease addiction', there is no 'psychological addiction' there is addiction.
Symptoms of physical withdrawal are
NOT needed, this is the crazy thinking that led many people to believe 'cocaine is not addictive'.
And your nomenclature is way messed up, some 'mental disorders' are diseases, some are not . But addiction is a mental health issue, it is not a 'disease' in the most common usage of the word.
Now since you are from Aussieland you are more likely to use the ICD-10
Here is the qualifier for *.2 dependence
Quote:
.2 Dependence syndrome
A cluster of behavioural, cognitive, and physiological phenomena that develop after repeated substance use and that typically include a strong desire to take the drug, difficulties in controlling its use, persisting in its use despite harmful consequences, a higher priority given to drug use than to other activities and obligations, increased tolerance, and sometimes a physical withdrawal state.
The dependence syndrome may be present for a specific psychoactive substance (e.g. tobacco, alcohol, or diazepam), for a class of substances (e.g. opioid drugs), or for a wider range of pharmacologically different psychoactive substances.
Note the ‘sometimes a physical withdrawal state’.
Now the DSM is similar
BUT ‘symptoms of withdrawal’ are not a requirement for addiction.
And
IN FACT you can be an ‘alcoholic’ and
NOT have any symptoms of withdrawal.
And
ALL psychoactive substances do
WHAT? They cross the blood brain barriers and all people who have addictions that are not to substances have physical brains, they are ALL 'mental disorders'.
Addiction is a behavioral disorder is may or may not have biological vulnerabilities, it may or may not have withdrawal syndromes,
BUT they are behavioral.