The disease of addiction

The addicted people use the drugs while claiming that it is there right to do so because they do not think that addiction is a disease to them. The associations such as the American Association and the American Society define addiction as a disease. They argue that the combination of the biological, environmental as well as the behavioural factors causes addiction, like in the case of diseases such as cancer, heart attack, and diabetes. Change of the body function and the brain are associated with addiction, which leads to the use of substances such as drugs. If the addiction condition goes untreated, then it leads to some mental and physical health disorders that require medical attention. The arguments are three, and they include the genetic theory, exposure theory, and the adaptation theories.

The genetic theory It is also known as the addictive inheritance theory. This theory attempts to separate the environmental and the biological factors of addiction. Studies show that when a child is born to the alcoholic parents and then adapted to the non-alcoholic families have a four-fold increase over the use of the alcohol than the rest of the family members. The alcoholism rate is higher for the people born and raised by the alcoholic parents. The evaluation of the patterns of the inheritance is the most substantial correlation between genetics and addiction. Research shows that the sons are mostly affected than the daughters when they are born and brought up in the alcoholic families. The genetic basis of this claim is however not clear.

Exposure theories The theories claim that the exposure of something in the body leads to addiction if the exposure is done on a regular basis. The biological model argues that this is a result of the biology. In the first case, drugs prevent the pains associated with the withdrawal. The second is that an extreme pleasure is brought by the experience from drugs. In both cases, reinforcement of the behaviour is the primary motivation. Adaptation theories The theory includes the things that influence addiction, such as the social, psychological and the environmental factors. The advocates of the theory will do have analysed the expectations and the beliefs on what the drug. Theories such as the inheritance theory enable us to understand the origin of the problem, which could be transmitted from one generation to the other via the family genes.

In this way, addiction is seen to be because of various factors. The concept gives some suggestions to assist in dealing with the situation. One of the ways is through providing support to the addicted person and making sure that his/her, actions are monitored. Our assistance to them should aim at helping them to cope with the situation in a positive manner (Wiens & Walker, 2015). Doing things for the benefit of the addict, such as providing them money is the only way that you see them showing some regard. The dynamics of the family can be changed because addiction can last for months or years. Over this period, the family will assist the individual as much as possible, but the addicts end up rejecting it.

There is a huge stress on the family of the addicted person. At times, the families worry the where about of a family member, more so if they are still alive. In this case, the person is unable to have control of his/her behaviour while in his/her family. The impact of this is that the person may engage in the domestic violence and hence losing the family. The person can also experience financial constrains because of the use of the finances in the other areas such as to regularly acquire drugs. Addiction leads to crimes. The addicted person has no control of the mind and hence ends up committing crimes in an attempt to get money to purchase the addictive.

This is because the addicts may fail to report in work, or report at work very late. If the addict loses a job, then it means that he will not contribute to the payment of the taxes. This leads to poor development of the nation. The poorly developed nation will then depend on the other developed countries at the end. Violence in the families is another issue that affects a nation. Conclusion Addiction is a disease, which affects the entire life of a person if the appropriate care measures are not taken to deal with the situation. Addiction is an issue that must be addressed from the family perspective. It is from the families where the family members are in concern with the addicted person.