Addiction is not a disease. This is something Marc Lewis touches on frequently in his talk during the last day of the Nobel Conference. He points out that the people calling addiction a disease are not the bad guys, they probably do not understand what addiction really is. And that is what Marc Lewis wants to help clear up; what exactly is addiction? One of the problems that causes misconception about addiction is that there are many different models of addiction. Lewis starts off his talk by showing all of the different models.. There is the disease model, the choice model, the social construction of addiction model, the self-medication model, and the learning model. The disease and choice model usually contrast each other, addiction can
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One definition says that addiction involves changes in the brain. In turn, people view brain change as a bad thing, Lewis shows that brain change is not negative. Learning and development involves brain change. Humans require brain change, without change the brain would not mature and thinking would not become efficient. Thus, brain change seen is addiction is not considered brain disease, unless it is very different from that seen in normal development. “As many as 30,000 synapses may be lost per second over the entire cortex during the pubertal/adolescent period.(1)” When the brain develops there is synaptic growth and pruning happening. During early development there is a lot a synaptic growth and during the later stages of development, synaptic pruning is taking place. This is when logical thinking develops. When the brain goes through these processes it is considered brain change, however it is normal. Another brain change that arises is intense emotional experiences, Lewis uses the example of falling in love. If the brain change seen in addiction is different from the change seen in intense emotional experiences, it is considered a brain disease. From Lewis’ research he concludes that the brain change seen in addiction is no different than the changes seen in normal development and intense emotional …show more content…
He also gives his opinion on why the disease model fails addicts. The model calls for medical treatment, which turns the addicts into patients. Patients do not feel like they have any power to set and achieve their own goals. Somebody else is taking control of their life. When a person is addicted they lose a sense of control, so taking away their control while they are trying to be treated is hurting more than helping. Another point that Lewis brings up on how to help addicts, is to make them feel more empowered by helping them focus more on other goals. This goes along with helping addicts move from the now to the future. If they can move away from now-appeal, they will be able to focus on other things beside the drug they became addicted
One definition says that addiction involves changes in the brain. In turn, people view brain change as a bad thing, Lewis shows that brain change is not negative. Learning and development involves brain change. Humans require brain change, without change the brain would not mature and thinking would not become efficient. Thus, brain change seen is addiction is not considered brain disease, unless it is very different from that seen in normal development. “As many as 30,000 synapses may be lost per second over the entire cortex during the pubertal/adolescent period.(1)” When the brain develops there is synaptic growth and pruning happening. During early development there is a lot a synaptic growth and during the later stages of development, synaptic pruning is taking place. This is when logical thinking develops. When the brain goes through these processes it is considered brain change, however it is normal. Another brain change that arises is intense emotional experiences, Lewis uses the example of falling in love. If the brain change seen in addiction is different from the change seen in intense emotional experiences, it is considered a brain disease. From Lewis’ research he concludes that the brain change seen in addiction is no different than the changes seen in normal development and intense emotional …show more content…
He also gives his opinion on why the disease model fails addicts. The model calls for medical treatment, which turns the addicts into patients. Patients do not feel like they have any power to set and achieve their own goals. Somebody else is taking control of their life. When a person is addicted they lose a sense of control, so taking away their control while they are trying to be treated is hurting more than helping. Another point that Lewis brings up on how to help addicts, is to make them feel more empowered by helping them focus more on other goals. This goes along with helping addicts move from the now to the future. If they can move away from now-appeal, they will be able to focus on other things beside the drug they became addicted