Addiction is a Neurological Disorder Essay - 2841 Words

Addiction: Its A Neurological Disorder Addiction is a neurologically based disease. For many years recovery specialists have compared alcoholism or addictions to a physical disease: like diabetes. In reality addictions are more closely related to a neurological disorder like Tourettes Syndrome* than they are to diabetes. If the problems you suffer stem from severe alcoholism or addiction, you must accept that these problems are not primarily mental or free will issues. Addictions are not about will power. The problems facing addicts, alcoholics, and their families are miserable, disgusting, and infuriating. They are often hopelessly discouraging. But to imagine that an addict could change if he wanted to is a serious†¦show more content†¦Example of a Nerve Pathway It is difficult for people to grasp the meaning of a nerve pathway, or why this is related to addiction. Often when people hear a new idea like: an addictive impulse is the result of a nerve impulse - they are left unsympathetic. Addicts and non addicts alike have a hard time believing that drug or alcohol use is anything more than a choice that is made in response to a habit. Deep down inside, most people believe that at its root - the behavior is always a choice. They are very, very wrong. This author was stuck in addiction for over a decade, so completely was he convinced that the mind was an immaterial spiritual power - and that to call alcoholism or addiction a disease was a cop-out for the weak-willed. This author believed that - each and every time - free choice was at the root of addictive behavior. Until one day, in another recovery facility - the author stumbled upon the concept of neuro-pathways - by reading a book called The Training of the Will - by a Jesuit priest. That book was written in the early 1900s. Even then, the Jesuits knew that the root of almost all behavior was based - not in free will - but in neurological wiring. For the Jesuits, training the will essentially consists in training the body. After reading that book, this author began to understand that while his mind - his intellect - was indeed an immaterial power, the overwhelming cravings for drugs or alcohol were based inShow MoreRelatedDrug Addiction Argumentative Essay977 Words   |  4 Pages7-22-2012 Argumentative Essay: Addiction is a choice Alcohol and illicit drug consumption are all too prevalent today in high schools, colleges, and all across the globe. Students seeking to fit in or forget about the repetitiveness of school and homework have a tendency to experiment. Drug addiction is known by the scientific community to be a psychological condition based on excessive, obsessive, and compulsive actions. 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