One of the most offensive aspects of this faux-medical "disease model" that AARC propounds (20 years after anyone with any insight in the addictions field dropped this version, given the evidence against it) is its anti-intellectualism and denunciation of critical thought.
A disease doesn't "talk to you." A disease can't "be outside doing pushups waiting for you to make you slip."
A disease isn't some sort of demon or imp that has consciousness and can plan things. A disease can't be manifest by the use of large words-- unless you want to say that intelligence is a disease.
At most, a disease can produce a tendency-- same with a gene. A gene can't make you into an addict. A gene can give you a tendency to have difficulty controlling your use of certain substances under certain environmental conditions. A gene can give you a tendency to have an overresponsive stress system such that if you are traumatized, you will end up finding drugs more soothing than someone without such an experience-- and if you have the same gene and no trauma, you will have no elevated risk of addiction.
In fact, even with alcoholism-- the addiction most studied as heritable--most children of alcoholics *DO NOT* become alcoholics.
If both of your parents are alcoholic, your risk of becoming alcoholic is 4 times that of the general population. That gives you a 20-40% risk-- which means, even at 40%, the majority DON"T become alcoholics.
Genes produce probabilities, not certainties in the vast majority of cases and certainly any gene ever found linked to risk for addiction does not sentence anyone who has it to definite or even 50% probability of addiction.
I urge anyone who thinks there is anything supportable about AARC to read the research literature and then come here and try to argue in favor of it. You won't be able to if you have half a brain because the research clearly shows that confrontation and humiliation reduces treatment success compared to kind, supportive care and that the idea of "chronic, progressive and frequently fatal" is contradicted by the epidemiology, that most teens with drug problems don't wind up injaildeadorinsane-- in fact, most addicts and alcoholics recover WITHOUT TREATMENT.
Addiction treatment helps a lot of people. 12 step programs selected voluntarily help many people. But there is no truth to the idea that you cannot recover without treatment, that anyone who gets clean without treatment or AA is a "dry drunk," or that addiction is always chronic.
We have science for a reason-- use it.
