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Addiction - medical reality vs. willpower?


banana

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31 minutes ago, SweeperDee said:

Don't think the OP knows much about the BIS/BAS model,  the numerous approaches to risk-taking behaviour, and an individuals propensity to engage in risk-taking behaviour.

You're right, how does that fit into the topic?

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You're right, how does that fit into the topic?


Because it's just one of the many reasons as to why addiction is purely not down to something as abstract as "willpower", and firmly roots it in the realm of a real psychological pathology; you fucking imbecile.
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1 minute ago, SweeperDee said:

Because it's just one of the many reasons as to why addiction is purely not down to something as abstract as "willpower", and firmly roots it in the realm of a real psychological pathology; you fucking imbecile.

I meant what is the BIS/BAS model, few here are likely to have heard of it? In what ways exactly does it support or conflict with either the medical view and the willpower view?

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I meant what is the BIS/BAS model, few here are likely to have heard of it? In what ways exactly does it support or conflict with either the medical view and the willpower view?


Those who have a greater propensity to become addicted to *anything*, are more likely to be influenced by BAS, as their inhibitions are significantly lowered compared to those heavily influenced by BIS.

Pathological drinkers and drug abusers, as well as gamblers, when tested, always show abnormally higher BAS scores than a "healthy" population. Higher BAS scores are also correlated with lesser density in the frontal cortex of the brain (where higher decision making processes occur, such a risk analysis).

Those who become addicted aren't misguided through lack of willpower, it's down to their neurochemistry.
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1 hour ago, banana said:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/02/the-fantasy-of-addiction

Is there any excuse for addiction other than lack of willpower, poor choices?

Yes plenty. Could be prescribed drugs , upbringing, anxiety, depression to name a few reasons. If that is a serious question you really are a fucking backward moron. Addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disease that overrides any rational thought regarding the consequences of the addiction.  I can't believe that in this day and age attitudes like this towards addiction still exist. 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, banana said:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/02/the-fantasy-of-addiction

Is there any excuse for addiction other than lack of willpower, poor choices?

I wouldn't recommend using willpower as a means of abstaining long term, it's a very basic strategy with not much substance to back it up. 

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There seem to be people on here who think addiction is due to deeper psychological issue but are willing to use obesity as a tool to mock. Need to make up their minds.

Btw, addiction is a disease imo. Addiction to comfort eating included with drink, drugs, gambling.

Sex addiction is just celebs getting caught doing the dirty

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2 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

What is Cake? Well, it has an active ingredient which is a dangerous psychoactive compound known as Dimesmeric Andersonphosphate. It stimulates the part of the brain called Shatner's Bassoon. And that's the bit of the brain that deals with time perception. So, a second feels like a month. Well, it almost sounds like fun...unless you're the Prague schoolboy who walked out into the street straight in front of a tram. He thought he'd got a month to cross the street.

sounds like only a fool would enter the nightmare of cake

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1 hour ago, Patrick Bateman said:

One young kiddie on Cake cried all the water out of his body. Just imagine how his mother felt. It's a fucking disgrace.

Not as bad as the baby elephant who had it's trunk stuck up it's own anus. Who was there to help then?

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On the subject of drugs, I read the following article about the heroin epidemic in Ohio and Northern Kentucky, it is truly shocking and tragic. What a life.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/pages/interactives/seven-days-of-heroin-epidemic-cincinnati/

 

I also read this piece this week by Jamie Ross about the recovery community in Scotland - groups promoting recovery from drug abuse and addiction. https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamieross/this-is-how-scotlands-recovering-addicts-organised-to-fight?utm_term=.areGJ01NP#.lvJwB146D

 

I'm sure most people will have been in a pharmacy when a methadone user has come in and had to slink into the booth or back room. I was in a pharmacy near my house recently and a man was walking out. His eyes caught mine just as he was leaving and it was a really odd moment. I didn't say anything but there was obviously a tension and awkwardness - clearly he knew that I knew what he was there for. I'm probably over analysing it but it's something that I've definitely felt before.

 

There's obviously a stigma about being an addict or from drug abuse in itself but I think there also has to be a recognition that people are wary of drug and alcohol addicts and users because of their experience of them. I've lived in tenement flats where there have been people abusing alcohol and drugs and it's a nightmare. People being wary of drug users isn't just prejudice and stigma, it's based on experience.

 

At the same time, the key to recovery is to be truly compassionate and supportive of people who abuse drugs and alcohol when possible, not to infantilise them or take away their agency but to support them into taking the right decisions and choices. It's very very hard though and often it just doesn't work. An awful situation to be in.

 

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7 hours ago, SweeperDee said:

Those who have a greater propensity to become addicted to *anything*, are more likely to be influenced by BAS, as their inhibitions are significantly lowered compared to those heavily influenced by BIS.

Those who become addicted aren't misguided through lack of willpower, it's down to their neurochemistry.

Thanks for that.

So assuming those variable propensities, Hitchens' angle is that there must still exist free will beyond, in your example, the neurochemistry. Therefore regardless of the level of difficulty, it's still fundamentally an issue of making good choices to overcome your propensities, personal responsibility.

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