Harvard psychologist Gene M. Heyman, author of the new book Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, argues against the disease concept of addiction. He believes that it is not a chronic affliction and that addicts and alcoholics instead just have an issue with self control. Personal experience and the great strides made in addiction science over the last twenty years make me wonder if this guy is serious or just trying to stir up a little controversy in order to sell books. If the latter is true he hit the mark, because I ordered the book today so that I may judge for myself.

Science or selling books? Doctor or quack? I’ll post a book review after I’ve finished his work and we’ll see if the picture stays.

After reading the umpteenth announcement that researchers have discovered a genetic sequence that is a predictor to alcoholism I decided that it was time to put the eggheads at TDA Laboratories to work to make some real news. As you can see, our research facilities are a little dated but I promise you the data from our work is rock solid. Here are the results from the latest experiments on predicting the occurrence of alcoholism and addiction.

At Risk Individuals:

• You may be at risk if alcoholism and addiction runs in family
• Have an impulsive personality with little patience for delayed gratification
• Have an unfocused lifestyle
• Habituate an environment where alcohol and drug abuse are tolerated/glorified
• Are between the age of fifteen and thirty

I could go on with the list but its beginning to sound like a set of “you may be a redneck” jokes by Jeff Foxworthy so I’ll get to the point:

With all the fancy research and data coming out these days I feel it is important to remember the basics of awareness and prevention. After all… alcoholics are made, not born. Yes I think the research is great and wonderful and may lead to some important discoveries in the future, but until we change the unhealthy fixation on drugs and alcohol of our society- then just identifying who is at risk really isn’t all that big of a deal.