It is not your genes

[Quantum Windbag]

“You all have been born with a genetic disposition to be alcoholics, from which you can never fully recover.”

This is probably the single most destructive lie perpetrated by the anti science crowd, and the only reason they keep repeating it is it lets them fleece idiots, and taxpayers, for money.

The truth is, the vast majority of people quit addictions on their own. Every population study (that is, research with people not in treatment) tells us this. There is no ambiguity, no doubt, no scientific questioning of this truth. Only the neuroscientific, “chronic brain disease” crowd—represented by the new official medical subspecialty, the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM)—strives to convince us of the opposite, even as a never-ending flood of data tells us otherwise.

Alcoholics Anonymous just makes it worse when they spout the "Once an alcoholic, always..." and "You can't even have..." drivel.

But what they tell us doesn’t happen to be true. People recover from addiction all the time. How do I know? Government research conducted by the NIDA and its sister agency (with which it is soon to be combined) the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) tells us that. In the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a massive national study involving face-to-face interviews with over 43,000 Americans in 2001-2002 about their lifetime drinking and drug use, the NIAAA revealed that, “twenty years after the onset of alcohol dependence, three-fourths of individuals are in full recovery; more than half of those who have fully recovered drink at low-risk levels without symptoms of alcohol dependence.”

What the fuck? Alcoholics can actually be cured, and drink alcohol?

Thus, ironically, it is those who are most convinced by the “chronic brain disease” narrative who are least likely to overcome addiction! This paradox was contemplated by the distinguished addiction expert William White, who is often associated with the American “recovery movement” (read Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12 steps). Analyzing 415 scientific reports of recovery, from the mid-19th century to the present, White was moved to contemplate the addiction-as-disease philosophy’s claims that addiction is a chronic—even, in AA’s view, a progressive—disease when, actually, “Recovery is not an aberration achieved by a small and morally enlightened minority of addicted people. If there is a natural developmental momentum within the course of these problems, it is toward remission and recovery.”

Government Says You Can?t Overcome Addiction, Contrary to What Government Research Shows - Reason.com

You have free will, use it.
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[Delta4Embassy]

Physical addiction, as with alcohol, is a treatable medical condition. Will-power solutions like AA only have about a 5% success rate at 5 years.

I don't doubt the government's claim addiction is irreversible. It's the same government that makes billions off treating illnesses rather than curing them outright. As has been said, "Disease is this country's chief industry." Why cure something and loose a customer if you can simply alleviate symptoms and keep the patient a life-long source of income.

 

[editec]

I won't weight in on the genetic predisposition argument but I will point out that your arrogant statement

You have free will, use it.​

rather misses the whole point of BRAIN SCIENCE.

 

[Sunni Man]

I remember when things like TB, ebola, lyme, hepatitis, polio, etc., were classified as a disease.

But today anything and everything can be called a disease........hoarding, shoplifting, and the latest one "shift work". ...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Genetics control a whole hell of a lot from how tall you're to what medical problems you pass down.

The future human race is going to be very interesting.

 

[kiwiman127]

Interesting.
Actually genetics can play into addiction. I've read that research suggests that alcohol dependence, and other substance addictions, may be associated with several different genetic variations in 51 different chromosomal regions.
If you need to find out more The Hazelden Foundation has done a ton of research on the subject.
http://www.hazelden.org/

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I won't weight in on the genetic predisposition argument but I will point out that your arrogant statement

You have free will, use it.​

rather misses the whole point of BRAIN SCIENCE.

Really?

How does that work? If "BRAIN SCIENCE" is about studying reality then it will eventually prove that we have free will. If, on the other hand, "BRAIN SCIENCE" is about inventing imaginary diseases in order to scam money from people, we need to get rid of it now.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Physical addiction, as with alcohol, is a treatable medical condition. Will-power solutions like AA only have about a 5% success rate at 5 years.

I don't doubt the government's claim addiction is irreversible. It's the same government that makes billions off treating illnesses rather than curing them outright. As has been said, "Disease is this country's chief industry." Why cure something and loose a customer if you can simply alleviate symptoms and keep the patient a life-long source of income.

AA is not about finding a cure. AA approaches addiction with the premise that you have an irreversible, unbeatable, and untreatable condition, and never offers you a cure.

Addiction is a choice. Once you stop making the choice to be addicted, you are cured.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Interesting.
Actually genetics can play into addiction. I've read that research suggests that alcohol dependence, and other substance addictions, may be associated with several different genetic variations in 51 different chromosomal regions.
If you need to find out more The Hazelden Foundation has done a ton of research on the subject.
Hazelden -- Addiction Treatment Center

Or, it could be a choice people make, like what clothes you wear.