Why is it that we always see the medical world constantly labeling common activities as new “addictions”?
Question by David S: Why is it that we always see the medical world constantly labeling common activities as new “addictions”?
The way I see it, the medical world acts much like the media in the fact that they seek nearly as much attention using whatever they can come up with for a story.
They are always labeling common activities, calling them “addictions”.
You here it all the time. Internet addiction. Video game addiction. On Yahoo’s search page today they are spewing some story about sun tanning addiction.
A habit can be developed by anyone for anything that they like to do. Are you going to say I need counseling because I have an addiction to flying a model airplane or fishing?
I just think they more or less synthesize non-existent syndromes for ultimately, the money.
Best answer:
Answer by mr.obvious
PLEASE Don’t confuse the Medical Doctors with the Shrinks or Quack. Quacks are the single most scammers of insurance fraud. They have become so corrupt that they have ruined so many lives and they still get away with murder because they are so called Doctors, They are not Doctors, they are Sales people with a degree, Some are legit but most of them are to lazy to work and choose psychology for a field.There a numerous web sites exposing there tactics and the FDA and Government allows their corruption to flourish, They don’t think you should swat your child’s but to get their attention, you should give them a pill and take them to a counselor, Money Money Money, and we pay for this abuse.
Answer by amandla
An addiction, in general, is something that iterferes with a person’s life in a significant manner, and that is to a large extent out of the person’s control.
A person who cannot (despite many attempts, guilt, etc) pull themselves away from their games or from surfing the internet, to the detriment of their performance at school, work, or in their social lives, could definitely benefit from the body of knowledge that tells us about addictive behavior and treatment. As the world changes we need to update our way of understanding it. Addiction is not a new concept. It may just be applied to new behaviors as they emerge.
I saw the tanning addiction headline, which seems a bit silly to me too. Could imagine that it perhaps has something to do with the chemicals released in the body as a reaction to sunshine…mabe the way people can become addicted to the endorphin rush caused by strenuous excercise. Anything can be overdone, and the term addiction comes into play whenever there is a compulsion and a lack of control, no matter what the behavior.
At the same time, by the way, things that used to be considered abnormal, unhealthy, pathological etc. are being reconsidered and redefined as perfectly OK. It would be pretty pathetic if medicine, psychology etc came to a standstill and refused to rethink what we believe to know, don;t you think?
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