The standard definition of drug or alcohol addiction is that it's a chronic, incurable disease of the brain.
In a comprehensive report on the topic, published last month, the surgeon general gives this familiar definition a more positive spin. He eschews the "cure" word and focuses instead on the fact that, as with other chronic diseases such as diabetes, there are effective treatments. There are methods for managing and reducing symptoms.
The surgeon general's report takes pains to note that, as a society, we have tended, historically, to shame addicts and treat them as morally, or even criminally, responsible for their condition. All this judgment has been bad for the public health; it gets in the way of enabling people to get the support, the help, the treatment that they need.
[For more of this story, written by Alva Noe, go to http://www.npr.org/sections/13...-report-on-addiction]
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