Since I did not talk at the poker games, I do not know if you are aware of this or not, but I am getting my Ph.D. in neuroscience from MIT. Most people have the misperception that diseases such as depression, schizophrenia, bulemia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and, yes, addictions such as food addiction and gambling addiction are somehow not legitmate diseases with a physical cause. Your mind is your mind not due to some magical thing, it is a product of the physical structure of your brain which is an organ made up of a bunch of cells connected together in a precise way that communicate back and forth with electrical and chemical signals. If those signals are disrupted in any way, the person can have misperceptions about the world or they can have improper motivations, improper emotions at improper times, they can make impoper movements and so on.
Ask yourself, why is it called Parkinson's disease? Why do you look at someone with Parksinson's disease and call it a legitimate disease? The reason why is because some cells die and doctors can look at the people who die from it when they cut their brain up and see what is wrong. Thats why they call it a disease. Same with Alzheimer's disease. They look at people who die from it and see this crust on their brain and so they call it a disease. But people with depression, or schizophrenia or bulemia, or yes, a gambling addiction, they also have something wrong with their brain. That is why they cannot stop their behavior. Gambling addicts want to stop and cannot do it. There is something in their brain which is physically, biologically, messed up. In fact one part of the brain that is affected is the same part of the brain that is biologically messed up with drug addiction. To classify one mental illness as biological in origin and another type of mental illness as psychological in origin is to not understand mental illness at all.
A gambling addict will be a gambling addict for the rest of his life. He has an actual biological problem in his brain. If you are really an alcoholic, you should know that. You don't get cured of being a real alcoholic, you are an alcoholic your whole life. You are just either an alcoholic who is not drinking right now, or you are an alcoholic who is drinking right now. If you think you went to the 12 step program and you are fine now then you weren't an alcoholic, you just had a problem for a while. You weren't the real deal addict. If you are a real addict you are an addict forever.
It's like depression. Sometimes life sucks for a while and people get sad. That's situational depression. People die, you lose your job, a couple things hit at once and you have to kind of go to therapy for a while and talk it over but you get over it. But there are some people who go through their whole life depressed, like the majority of the time for no reason. Those people don't have a psychological problem. They have a biological problem in their brain. If you have that, it is like having diabetes. People with diabetes don't take insulin for a while and then don't have diabetes anymore. They might not appear to be diabetic anymore once they take insulin, but they are. They have to take it the rest of their life. That is what being a real addict is.
I just feel like you are trivializing what could happen to these people because you don't get what being an addict is. You think people can just get over it easily, because you think you were an addict and you did. But it sounds like you maybe got out of hand with your drinking in college and had a problem. But that's not being an addict, you know what I mean? A problem is not an addict. People with a problem still have control of themselves. I dunno I don't know your experience, but just from your attitude about addiction it seems like you don't have a firm grasp on the reality of the situation and the real danger of what can and does happen to people. I dunno. It's like.. it's your loved ones, man! Don't you care?? Am I being dramatic or what. I just picture like people I love with all my heart being these people broken down. For what. I would never ever forgive myself. You could just go on and not care? Blameless? I mean really? I'm trying to save you regret for your whole life.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-02-28 19:13 (UTC)Ask yourself, why is it called Parkinson's disease? Why do you look at someone with Parksinson's disease and call it a legitimate disease? The reason why is because some cells die and doctors can look at the people who die from it when they cut their brain up and see what is wrong. Thats why they call it a disease. Same with Alzheimer's disease. They look at people who die from it and see this crust on their brain and so they call it a disease. But people with depression, or schizophrenia or bulemia, or yes, a gambling addiction, they also have something wrong with their brain. That is why they cannot stop their behavior. Gambling addicts want to stop and cannot do it. There is something in their brain which is physically, biologically, messed up. In fact one part of the brain that is affected is the same part of the brain that is biologically messed up with drug addiction. To classify one mental illness as biological in origin and another type of mental illness as psychological in origin is to not understand mental illness at all.
A gambling addict will be a gambling addict for the rest of his life. He has an actual biological problem in his brain. If you are really an alcoholic, you should know that. You don't get cured of being a real alcoholic, you are an alcoholic your whole life. You are just either an alcoholic who is not drinking right now, or you are an alcoholic who is drinking right now. If you think you went to the 12 step program and you are fine now then you weren't an alcoholic, you just had a problem for a while. You weren't the real deal addict. If you are a real addict you are an addict forever.
It's like depression. Sometimes life sucks for a while and people get sad. That's situational depression. People die, you lose your job, a couple things hit at once and you have to kind of go to therapy for a while and talk it over but you get over it. But there are some people who go through their whole life depressed, like the majority of the time for no reason. Those people don't have a psychological problem. They have a biological problem in their brain. If you have that, it is like having diabetes. People with diabetes don't take insulin for a while and then don't have diabetes anymore. They might not appear to be diabetic anymore once they take insulin, but they are. They have to take it the rest of their life. That is what being a real addict is.
I just feel like you are trivializing what could happen to these people because you don't get what being an addict is. You think people can just get over it easily, because you think you were an addict and you did. But it sounds like you maybe got out of hand with your drinking in college and had a problem. But that's not being an addict, you know what I mean? A problem is not an addict. People with a problem still have control of themselves. I dunno I don't know your experience, but just from your attitude about addiction it seems like you don't have a firm grasp on the reality of the situation and the real danger of what can and does happen to people. I dunno. It's like.. it's your loved ones, man! Don't you care?? Am I being dramatic or what. I just picture like people I love with all my heart being these people broken down. For what. I would never ever forgive myself. You could just go on and not care? Blameless? I mean really? I'm trying to save you regret for your whole life.