Nida Model Of Addiction

A large majority of people today are willing to believe that addiction is a disease. However, there are many who disagree and define it as a lack of will power or moral weakness. In order for one to have compassion for those suffering from this disease, they must understand the stages and characteristics of the process of addiction. Over 30 years of intensive research has taught us, and NIDA supports, that addiction is a disease of the brain. The NIDA defines drug addiction as "a brain disease characterized by compulsive, at many times uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking, and use that persists despite potentially devastating consequences. Due to controversy over the real definition of this disease, the official medical definition is shorter but shares the same defining factors the disease model proposes. According to
Their tool for diagnosing addiction, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), best identifies "impaired control over substance use" to be the main symptom of addiction, and is what is often used to distinguish drug dependence from drug abuse. Those who are dependent will continue to use drugs and alcohol despite negative consequences, while abusers of drugs will not (Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation).Studies have made clear that addiction is an extremely complex disease and is made up of many different factors entangled together; genetics, behavioral, environmental and developmental factors all contribute. All of these factors determine one’s vulnerability to addiction. I was vulnerable to addiction because of these factors. Since my father has suffered from addiction, it was in my genes. I lived in a home where my older sister was drinking and smoking marijuana, and since I experimented with drugs during my early adolescence, chances were high that I would become addicted. It 's most common for addiction to take hold during adolescence, because it 's the