Bshs 455 - Conceptualizing Addiction

Conceptualizing Addiction

BSHS/455

December 07, 2015

Introduction

Addiction is a subject that has been bantered over many years (Palys., 2009). Addiction does not just include recreational use of drugs; rather addicts use excessive amounts of drugs regularly which brings about many adverse results. Whether their drugs of choice are lawful or unlawful, the negative impacts of misuse for both sorts incorporate serious health problems and emotional and mental harm. Eventually, severe drug abuse hinders people from performing typical, everyday activities and makes their lives unmanageable. Despite extremely unfavorable impacts, a few individuals still proceed on this way of life. As indicated by Statistics Canada (2002), 2.6% of the populace aged 15 and over were reliant on alcohol while 0.8% was subject to illegal drugs (Palys., 2009).

An audit of the literature uncovers a rich tapestry of theoretical structures endeavoring to comprehend the concept of addiction. Henceforth, addiction hypothesis and intervention are caught in a maze of contradictions. The vast majority of the theories are adroit and capture vital components of what we comprehend as constituting addictive conduct. This paper will seek to define addiction and compare and contrast two models of conceptualizing addiction namely; The Moral and The Disease Model respectively. Further, it will include a brief summary of the preferred theory towards intervening addiction.

The Moral Model

The Moral Model of addiction has been, in the principle, considered as an unscientific point of view established in religion and taking into account traditional thought, which, through assigning blame, criminalizes the individual who is addicted and subsequently impedes recuperation. The traditional view, in trying to answer the question of why individuals participate in any conduct, including substance use, inordinate sexuality, and gambling, spotlights on the component of the individual choice (Ross, 2010).

A comprehension of the personal decision is normally situated in an origination of rationality established in the analysis of human conduct created by the early traditional scholars Cesare Beccaria, and Jeremy Bentham (Clark, 2011). The essential issue of this model as connected to addiction is that the individual is a judicious rational character who takes part in an end calculation. As a result, individuals pick all conduct because of their rational calculations. Choice, with every other condition equal, will be coordinated towards the boost of individual delight and can be controlled through the observation and comprehension of the potential agony or discipline that will take place after an act.

The individuals