In the TDA Alphabet Primer, “I” is for insanity. While the disease concept of alcoholism and drug addiction has existed for close to two hundred years, just in the last few decades has it been demostrated to be a brain disease by pioneers in addiction science like Dr. Nora Volkow. It should come as no surprise that addiction is often accompanied by other mental disorders, a comorbidity that complicates treatment or even explanation to underlying cause. Making matters even more confusing is the grey area between substance abuse and full blown addiction that is problematic for even the staunchest advocate of the disease concept to explain; is there a line (and where) in the sand once crossed that is the point of no return? One thing is for sure though, any family that has watched the transformation and lost a member will attest to the insanity of the disease.
Below is a favorite post of mine from the archives that addresses the issue of The Insanity of Addiction.
In medical terminology, an addiction is a chronic neurobiologic disorder that has genetic, psychosocial, and environmental dimensions and is characterized by one of the following: the continued use of a substance despite its detrimental effects, impaired control over the use of a drug, and preoccupation with a drug’s use for non-therapeutic purposes. ~ Wikipedia
Addiction is a complicated condition and to a few, a contentious issue. If allowed to attend a newcomer’s recovery meeting however, it would be clearly evident even to the staunchest critics of the disease concept that there was some serious insanity afoot.
It’s the transformation that’s the big tell- as the otherwise silent mixture of court ordered, last chancers, and hopeful but lost addicts and alcoholics stare passively at the wall during a recovery topic suddenly become seriously animated and talkative when given the chance to share stories of substance abuse. Why do I kid myself, it’s not just newcomers. Even those of us with many years of recovery behind us often fall in the trap of addictive thinking- telling war stories of how much we drank or how we should have died, trying to one up each other and seemingly enjoying the whole exercise.
It’s crazy, the insanity of addiction, how a group of people who have been laid low by addiction, lost money, friends, family, and dignity- can somehow brighten up and become engaged while reliving the moment! There is no doubt addiction is a mental disease, but as you can see from the definition above, that’s just part of a very complex condition.
