Choice Vs Choice Theory Essay

Understanding addiction is a complicated subject that inspires controversy and debate. Not only do people want to understand addiction because of the curiosity to understand human beings and human nature, but there are factors that go into the defining of addiction such as public policy and health care coverage. There are two theories that are on the opposite spectrum when it comes to addiction which include the “disease concept” and the “choice theory”. One defines addiction as a disease, something that is out of one’s control, while the other thinks of it as a choice or a moral deficiency that resides in a person. The consequence of this gap is the delay in gaining control over drug abuse. While the people who support the choice theory see …show more content…

Supporters of the “choice theory” support that there is no theoretical obstacle to acknowledging the fact that thoughts, desires, values and other mental phenomena can dominate bodily functions. There is no correlation between continual bar pressing during intracranial self-stimulation and increased dopaminergic neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbensour results are consistent with evidence that the dopaminergic component is not associated with the hedonistic or pleasure aspects of rewards. (Schaler 2002) In other words, there is no empirical evidence that supports the claims that the chemical rewards have no power to compel. For instance, I am rewarded when I eat a delicious chocolate pastry, but I often choose not to this because I feel it will hurt my weight. Same applies to people with alcohol and drug abuse problems. The mere ability of an addict to understand the damages they do by using drug and alcohol such as the damaging of personal relationships, loss of job, legal issues, etc. results in the ability for that person to rationalize that addiction results in consequences. Gene Heyman, the author of “Addiction: A Disorder of Choice” explains in an interview that when you look at other diseases such as schizophrenia you can not reason with the patient stating that it is not socially acceptable to have hallucinations or outbursts, that will not affect the patient at all, but when you look at addiction the social factors are the key reasons why people choose to stop. (Heyman 2009) Overall, addiction is activities that influenced by costs and