The disease model of addiction describes an

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...

as a disease with biological, neurological, genetic, and environmental sources of origin. The traditional

medical model ''Medical model'' is the term coined by psychiatrist R. D. Laing in his ''The Politics of the Family and Other Essays'' (1971), for the "set of procedures in which all doctors are trained". It includes complaint, history, physical examinatio ...

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

requires only that an abnormal condition be present that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the affected individual. The contemporary medical model attributes addiction, in part, to changes in the

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

mesolimbic pathway The mesolimbic pathway, sometimes referred to as the reward pathway, is a dopaminergic pathway in the brain. The pathway connects the ventral tegmentum, ventral tegmental area in the midbrain to the ventral striatum of the basal ganglia in the for ...

. The medical model also takes into consideration that such disease may be the result of other biological, psychological or sociological entities despite an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms of these entities. The common biomolecular mechanisms underlying all forms of addiction –

CREB CREB-TF (CREB, cAMP response element-binding protein) is a cellular transcription factor. It binds to certain DNA sequences called cAMP response elements (CRE), thereby increasing or decreasing the transcription of the genes. CREB was first de ...

and

ΔFosB Protein fosB, also known as FosB and G0/G1 switch regulatory protein 3 (G0S3), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the FBJ murine osteosarcoma viral oncogene homolog B (''FOSB'') gene. The FOS gene family consists of four members: FOS, F ...

– were reviewed by Eric J. Nestler in a 2013 review. Genetic factors and mental disorders can contribute to the severity of drug addiction. Approximately fifty percent of the chance a person will develop an addiction can be attributed to genetic factors."Addiction as a Disease." The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 23 August 2016. Web. 23 November 2016.

Criticism

Critics of the disease model, particularly those who subscribe to the life-process model of addiction argue that labeling people as ''addicts'' keeps them from developing self-control and stigmatizes them. As noted by the

harm reduction Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to d ...

specialist Andrew Tatarsky:

References

{{reflist Addiction psychiatry

Criticism

See also

References