Is addiction stupid?

1. 71

   somethgblueposted 12 years ago

   Is addiction stupid?
   
   Since so many people think they have the ultimate control in their lives and are pillars of the community, I gotta ask is addiction just a stupid choice?

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2. 80

   Georgie Loweryposted 12 years ago

   I'm not sure that addiction is a choice. To use or to consume is a choice, but once it's got you, it's got you.

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   1. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I asked the question because so many people easily identify other peoples' character defects without first looking why they are unable to identify their own.

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3. 60

   IDONOposted 12 years ago

   No. The last person to be aware of their addiction is the addict themselves. Nobody indulges in an activity with the intent of becoming an addict, no matter what it is. That would be stupid.  Addiction is the result of whatever you are doing. Denial of an addiction is part of the addiction. I wrote a hub on denial, but don't know how to link it. ( I'm a dinosaur)  Addiction is not a choice. Recovery from that addiction is.

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   1. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You can't provide links in answers to questions, it isn't allowed, so it has nothing to do with being a dinosaur. I am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict with eight years of continued sobriety.
      
      I asked this question to prove a point

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4. 61

   seajonposted 12 years ago

   Addiction is not a choice rather it is like a disease, it needs cure.

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   1. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Addiction has no cure however it does have a treatment, which requires the development of faith in a power greater than oneself. This lack of faith is a character defect that is easier to recognize in others, hence the mental disease!

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      seajonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Are they not the same? treatment and cure? thanks

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   3. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No a treatment keeps the disease from progressing and a cure eradicates it entirely. Many people think by going to a 'treatment' facility they will be/are getting a cure in 30 days, there is no graduation ceremony for addiction.
      
      Good question!

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      seajonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      thanks!

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5. 60

   Keith Hamposted 12 years ago

   Knowingly taking a addictive substance, etc is just plain stupid. By taking it, you've made the choice to be addicted and in turn its your own fault for getting into it. You can't very well blame the drug.

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   1. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Addiction goes way beyond blame, an addict blames no one but themselves and certainly doesn't blame the drug. Which begs the question how old are you?
      No one makes the choice to be addicted, they simple believe they're in control of their choices!

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   2. 60

      Keith Hamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm 23, excuse me for not knowing all there is about the world.

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   3. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I generally do not ask a question I don't already know the answer to, sorry didn't mean to offend. I often skip ahead to the point and bypass the chit chat. Addiction is about lack of faith (The Lost Symbol) that is what the book was all about!

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   4. 60

      Keith Hamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Your right but I couldn't say that in my review, it would give away the ending. Oddly enough I went through it becoming increasingly interested in Noetics.

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   5. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      This is getting weird, I'm currently reading The Origin Of Consciousness In The Break Down Of The Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes and I just came across a quote from an entirely different source about thinking becoming obsolete and feeling the truth.

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6. 34

   edhanposted 12 years ago

   Being addicted to a drug will be a bad choice. Normally when comes to medication, I will tend to go for herbs. It is more natural for healing.

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7. 83

   jandeeposted 12 years ago

   No it isn't stupid !
   
   We are all pushed and pulled into habits/addiction.
   
   You are a strong willed bloke and good luck to you blue,
   
   best from jandee

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   1. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Haven't heard from you in awhile Jandee, I rarely ask a question I don't already know the answer to. The question was designed to create the point that some choices we make in life are not immeadiately recognized as a mistake.

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8. 76

   Mighty Momposted 12 years ago

   No. Addiction is very, very cunning and smart. It's the only disease that convinces you you don't have it in the first place. If you get clean/sober  it waits (as one good friend of mine puts it) in the parking lot doing one-armed pushups for you to slip up and pick up.
   People who look down their noses holier-than-thou denouncing addicts for their "bad choices" have no clue whatsoever what addiction is or what it does to your brain and body. It takes the choice away.
   Has nothing to do with moral failing or lack of willpower.

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   1. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You have nailed it exactly and once you have it it is with you for life. Cunning , Baffling and Powerful!

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      Keith Hamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      This is a good answer, I have to wonder if people with such knowledgeable answers or the one who asked the Question themselves have some experience with addictions.

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9. 71

   stanwshuraposted 12 years ago

   Addiction itself is not stupid, and I can identify two specific reasons or contexts in which addiction happens that are not literally "stupid".  I'll speak first to addictions that originate from behavioral choices.  No one smokes a joint or pops a pill intending to get addicted.  For the former, it can be peer pressure, ignorance of the risks (and ignorance is not itself stupidity), or an organic/innate curiosity about the effects.  A gambler does not choose to lose control (or his/her money!).  In fact, the gambling addiction is a particularly nasty monster because of something called random or intermittent reinforcement/reward.   This makes extinction of the problem behavior (excessive gambling) an extraordinarily complicated and difficult endeavor.
   
   Some "addictions" seem inborn.  Food addiction, sex addiction, even those so-called "addictions" to games, sexual self-gratification, pornography, et cetera are not the result of poor decisions, but normal, or normally non-addiction-producing behaviors.
   
   On very rare occasions, a person can become clinically addicted after the first hit, line, huff, shot, or even non-drug related experience.  Most of the time, addiction sneaks up on the person.  Not one smoker - ever - smoked a pack of cigarettes his/her first day smoking.  No other addict dove headlong into their addiction.  We are pleasure seekers, and we all learned in psych101 that a behavior that is rewarded (by the chemically induced WOW! "bliss", by the slot machine that starts spilling money, by that intense sexual arousal, et cetera) is very likely to be repeated.
   
   When that behavior is unhealthy, risky, et.c., the continuing cycle of action and reward, action and reward, can overwhelm the "sensible" will of even the smartest or so-callled "wholesome" individuals.
   
   So, no.  Addiction can be harmful, expensive and devastating.  But it can't fairly be called "stupid".

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   1. 71

      somethgblueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So, no. Addiction can be harmful, expensive and devastating. But it can't fairly be called "stupid".
      
      That one sentence was a good answer, the rest is just mental masturbation which suggest that you are addicted to your own written words.

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   2. 71

      stanwshuraposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Are you high??  "The rest" was textbook classical conditioning.  Thank you SO much for jumping to the concluding sentence, which DOES NOT do the job.  Why the hell would you ask a question (a stupid one) & bash a labored answer.  My bad for THINK

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