The first thought when one hears the word addict, or addiction, is that of a criminal. The word has come to be seen as synonymous with immorality. Addiction, in today’s society, is treated as a crime or a mistake, when in reality, psychologists state that it’s a mental illness. Addiction is not a choice, merely an affliction that the addict has no control over. In fact, it is listed as a disorder in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), a product of more than 10 years of effort by international experts in all aspects of mental health. Addiction is not limited to substance abuse. It can come about from anything that provides someone with a temporary high, or increase the dopamine/serotonin levels in their brain- people can get addicted to food, their phones, gambling, even exercise. Often, these lesser known addictions go overlooked because the word is conflated with immorality. People are not willing to admit to the problem, let alone seeking help, because they begin viewing themselves as “lesser” for falling victim to this mental illness.
Demonising addicts does nothing to curtail their behaviour. The way to tackle these issues has to be support and acceptance. Furthermore, addictions are often caused by a pre-existing mental illness that has gone untreated, such as depression or anxiety. Sufferers often look to addictive substances to cope with the stresses in their life. Ostracizing them often leads to a significant worsening of these stresses, thus fueling the addiction further. Society as a whole needs to go from seeing this condition as a sign of weakness, or a character flaw, to seeing it for what it is- a disease, that deserves empathy and aid to get through. Only then will the cases of addiction begin to drop amongst the population.
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