Myths about Addiction
Underlined you will find a myth about addiction or alcoholism after you will find the facts as listed in the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers website.
It takes years for someone to become dependent on a drug. There are anecdotal reports that some people become "instantly dependent" on drugs like alcohol and cocaine, with one or only a few exposures to the drug. These people might be heavily genetically-loaded for the disease. There are also research studies showing that most people who will become dependent on cocaine do so within three years of starting cocaine use.
Euphoria = “addiction”. Euphoria is “a sense of well-being”. Cocaine produces tremendous euphoria, whereas nicotine produces mild euphoria. Yet most experts agree that nicotine and cocaine are both highly dependence-producing. Euphoria is the reason why people use drugs (“to get high”). Dependence (“addiction”) occurs in some, but not all, people who experience euphoria. People who experience dependence have a brain disease.
“Addicts” are bad, crazy, or stupid. Evolving research is demonstrating that “addicts” (people who are dependent according to DSM criteria) are not bad people who need to get good, crazy people who need to get sane, or stupid people who need education. Chemically-dependent people have a brain disease that goes beyond their use of drugs.
“Addiction” is a will-power problem. This is an old belief, probably based upon wanting to blame “addicts” for using drugs to excess. This myth is reinforced by the observation that most “treatments” for alcoholism and “addiction” are behavioral (talk) therapies (including Twelve Steps). But “addiction” occurs in a subconscious area of the brain that is not under conscious control, the mesolimbic dopamine system. Also, there appears to be a pathology of the frontal lobes associated with chemical dependence, and frontal lobes are were decision-making takes place in the brain. If there is a problem with the decision-making portion of the brain, can we say they have weak “will-power” when that portion of the brain is not working properly?
“Addicts” should be punished, not treated, for using drugs. Science is demonstrating that “addicts” have a brain disease that causes them to have impaired control over their use of drugs. If we want to punish people for using drugs, we should punish those who are willfully abusing (DSM diagnosis) drugs. Chemically-dependent people need treatment to stop their destructive use of drugs.
“Addicts” cannot be medically treated. Actually, “addicts” are medically detoxified, when appropriate, in hospitals all the time. But can they be medically treated after detox? New pharmacotherapies (medicines) are now available to help patients, who have already become abstinent, to curb their craving for addicting drugs. These medications reduce the chances of relapse and enhance the effectiveness of existing behavioral (talk) therapies (including Twelve Steps). Such drugs include naltrexone (ReVia), acamprosate (Campral), and bupropion (Zyban).
Methadone treatment simply involves substituting one addicting drug for another. While methadone is a drug that produces dependence, methadone has been shown to reduce the craving for the dangerous illegal drug heroin. By placing an “addict” into a controlled methadone program, clinicians can monitor their progress, encourage abstinence from heroin, help the addict find a job, and gradually reduce the methadone dose. Many people choose to take methadone in place of heroin, which is less dangerous than injecting heroin “on the street”. Also, there is some sentiment for providing free heroin to opioid-dependent people, to make them more comfortable, reducing their criminal behavior, and helping them find places for treatment. Many of these people actually want help but can’t find it.
“Addiction” is treated behaviorally, so it must be a behavioral problem. New brain scan studies are showing that behavioral treatments (i.e., psychotherapy) and medications work similarly in changing brain function. So chemical dependence is a brain disease that can be treated by changing brain function, through several different types of treatments.
