http://mindhacks.com/2007/08/18/addicted-to-neurobiology-and-politics/ Neuroscience and psychology news and views. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:51:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://mindhacks.com/2007/08/18/addicted-to-neurobiology-and-politics/#comment-7193 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:59:25 +0000 http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/addicted-to-neurobiology-and-politics/#comment-7193 I think it’s odd that the addiction question is couched in terms of brain disease versus psychological problem and that those in the addiction field still think having a condition labeled a brain disease will reduce stigma. In the field of psychiatry, the prevailing idea is now that there are no psychological problems, but instead that every bit of mental discomfort and distress is a brain disease. This has resulted in a huge increase in stigma. Once you are labeled as having a disease that makes you unable to be responsible for your actions, you lose the right to due process in our nation. Furhtermore, in our hysterical society, addiction is overdiagnosed almost as much as child bipolar disorder. The only successful way to treat addiction is the support group model, 12 step or otherwise, because addiction is a social problem not a brain disorder or even a psychological problem.

]]> http://mindhacks.com/2007/08/18/addicted-to-neurobiology-and-politics/#comment-7192 Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:09:23 +0000 http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/addicted-to-neurobiology-and-politics/#comment-7192 Great post!

]]> http://mindhacks.com/2007/08/18/addicted-to-neurobiology-and-politics/#comment-7191 Sun, 19 Aug 2007 11:07:09 +0000 http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/addicted-to-neurobiology-and-politics/#comment-7191 I think this puzzling aspect face by neuroscience has tremanedous impact in society and policy and also deals with the old and perennial debate in the western philosophical reflection and tradition: such us the metaphysical issue of free will.
I¬¥m lean to think that in some sense we are genetically prone to suffer addictions, so for me is more a matter of “brain disease” wth a mixture of “psychological problem” due to the multifactorial bidirectional relations of having certain anomalies in our genetic make-up.
Moreover, if neuroscience can tell us something about this kind of behaviour (addiction)we can override any impulse to stigmatize and exclude people with addictions if we know that they are less culpable of their behaviour (this also is important in free will debate about compatibilists, incompatibilists, determinists,libertarians, semi-compatibilists…) that is, because neurosicence could demonstrate that they are not responsible for their conduct because they lack internal control of theirs “motivations”.

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