wolftigerrosebud wrote:addiction itself is a literally physical brain illness.
Rereading this thread brought me to this post, and I know wolftigerrosebud said he was done here, but this phrase bothers me. It always has. I know that posting this will illicit numerous responses by faithful Internet researchers, but that won't change how I've always felt about this.
I don't believe this to be a 100% true statement. I was in rehab the first time I heard this. I was 19. I know people in recovery rely on this type of stuff to get through their daily lives. But even then this didn't sit quite right with me. It would be one thing if this info was a reality check only used at rare occasions to illustrate a point to the addict. But this "disease" stuff is literally crammed down your throat. As for all the cliches and that stuff, they say,"take what works for you and leave the rest," but this disease angle never lets up. It seemed strange that all of us criminals and dope fiends(and thats what we were) were just, ummmm....sick. We all knew we weren't sick, we liked to get high. But isn't it easier to admit you're a shitbag junkie or addict or drunk or whatever title society likes to give to those in the same situation
if its not your fault? Admission is required for redemption...
Then it hit me: INSURANCE. This is all a game. You have a job, it offers benefits. Lets say you get into trouble, or you just need a break from the stress of life. YOU NEED TO GO TO TREATMENT. If you're a poor, sick person who can't help what the awful drugs did to their poor little psyche, a victim of a vicious, spreading disease, well, then, you'll get the help you need from your friendly neighborhood treatment center, and they'll get their money(from your insurance company), and everybody's happy, right?
But what about people that don't have insurance? Don't they suffer from the same disease? Just try to get into a treatment center without insurance, its somewhat difficult. I was court ordered to be there, so my tab was being picked up by the state. I could have stayed indefinitely, was how one employee put it. But patients whose insurance companies were footing the bill were allowed ten days. TEN DAYS. Then you're gone. Hope you got everything you could out of your ten days, because thats all you get. But you can guarantee the bill for that ten days made my state bill for 28 days look like small potatoes.
It seems like there is an entire industry here that did not exist 20 or 30 years ago. Then, if you were an addict, it was your own goddamn fault, and most people felt like addicts should reap what they sow. I can't ever remember seeing any sympathy for addicts/alcoholics before I went to treatment(this was years ago), and then the people who work with these addicts do this weird balancing act where they shame them and reassure them simultaneously. Mixed feelings, to say the least...
The climate of treatment for this is changing as we speak, but we live in the land of capitalism. Nothing happens here unless somebody that already has huge piles of money will be able to gain from it. Ever watch "Intervention"? Why does Passages Malibu run an ad during the show? Do treatment centers really need to advertise? WTF???