Addiction is genetic. Recovery rates are so slim. Addiction causes most of the worlds problems. WHY don’t we..?

Question by Having a Bad Day.: Addiction is genetic. Recovery rates are so slim. Addiction causes most of the worlds problems. WHY don’t we..?
Addiction is genetic. Addiction leads to homelessness, spouse abuse, child abuse, neglect, child abandonment, and destroys a child’s fragile little mind, leading them to destroy their own offspring, repeating the generational transmission of trauma over and over again.

Recovery numbers are so very small… The damage that these addicts do to their children, their family, their friends, their community, their SPECIES that their “Recovery”, if it is successful, doesn’t come NEAR to making up for the horrible things they have done.

Why on earth do we refuse to talk in realistic terms about addiction and the damage it does to the world?

WHY do we continue to swallow the nonsensical platitudes about “You have to WANT to get sober and if you WANT TO, you WILL!” as if it is simply a matter of “Saying No”?

Addiction is based in damaged biology… The way the brain is hardwired!

Saying that an Addict should just think happy thoughts and put down the meth pipe is like telling a Schizophrenic to “Just ignore the voices”.

WHY do we not just put a bullet in these people?

WHY do we KNOWINGLY ALLOW them to abuse their children?

WHY do we tell ourselves that it “Isn’t our business” if alcoholic dad beats his wife and child?

WHY do we leave meth-mom alone when she screams “HOW DARE YOU tell me how to raise my child! HOW DARE YOU tell me that my lifestyle choice is ‘child abuse’? I NEVER get high ‘in front of’ my child! s/he doesn’t know I’m high!”

WE KNOW what causes addiction.

WE KNOW that addict moms and dads lead to disturbed kids that will repeat the cycle of chaos and trauma without a LOT of help.

So why is the subject of HELPING THESE CHILDREN OF ADDICTS taboo?

Personally, as the child of an addict, I would personally go door to door and put a bullet in the skulls of each and every addict/alcoholic. I would be doing the world a SPECTACULAR service by removing these victimizers from the planet.

How can we be so selfish as to allow people that are genetically hardwired to abuse their kids and destroy lives to continue?

Best answer:

Answer by Nom Nom Nom
Apparently the guy above me thinks that you can tell an epileptic to just say no to seizures.

I completely agree. If you say that it is their lifestyle choice and their right to raise their child as they see fit you are actively supporting child abuse. As Adam Carolla said “I hope that the 8th child of a crackwhore goes to school and stabs your little angel in the playground you ACLU P*ssies.”

What do you mean Addiction isn’t genetic? Addiction Medicine has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last 20 years and with the invention of the FMRI, we have been able to document the way that the brain of an addict is different from that of a person without a family history of addiction.

If you have a parent that is an addict, you have a 50% chance of inheriting the combination of genetics that make up what is colloquially known as “The Addiction Gene”.

The evidence is VERY cut and dry and this is why you can take two people that seem identical and give them opiates, give them opiates long enough to make both people physically dependent upon them, then detox the two and the one with the addict parent will not stop craving the opiates even after detox while the other just gets off of them and never looks back.

Most people don’t comprehend the distinction between Physical Dependancy and Addiction. Physical Dependancy is about the detox while Addiction is about craving the substances long after they have been out of the system.

You are your brain. Your brain and how it works, for better or for worse, is the motivation behind every instinct, thought, and act.

Even sever obesity has been proven to be the result of the same brain alterations that cause addicts to be hooked on drugs.

✖ Overeaters and Drug Abusers Share Addictive Brain Chemistry
http://www.livescience.com/health/091109-diet-drink-brain.html

The brains of the obese need much more stimulation in order for the brain to release the satiation hormones that trigger you to stop eating than that of a normal weight person. The brains of the obese work the same way that the brains of alcoholics do, meaning, the severely obese are literally addicted to food and must continue to consume because of the commands coming down from the brain. As stated above, telling an addict not to do drugs or an obese person not to eat is like telling a skitzophrenic to just ignore the voices in their heads or telling an epileptic to “Just Say No” to seizers. It doesn’t work on a conscious level.

The utter ignorance of the common person and their inability to stop mindlessly spouting catch phrases like “Just Say No!” and “No Child Left Behind!” are what is allowing the abuse to continue.

✖ Food, Drugs, or Designer Shoes: Mind Treats All Cravings Equal
http://www.livescience.com/health/041105_food_drug.html

✖ Temptation Harder to Resist Than You Think, Study Suggests
http://www.livescience.com/culture/090803-resist-temptation.html

✖ Addiction: It’s In Your Genes
http://www.livescience.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=asb1008_addictiongene

✖ Can the Brain Be Rebooted to Stop Drug Addiction?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-the-brain-be-rebooted-to
Study traces what happens in the brain to cause addictive behavior, potentially paving the way for new ways to dry out

✖ Women Get Drunk, High and Addicted Easier Than Men
http://www.livescience.com/health/060517_women_addiction.html

✖ Predisposition for Addiction
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=predisposition-for-addict

✖ The Addicted Brain: Overview/The Evolution of Addiction
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-addicted-brain-overvi

✖ Research Reveals Faulty Biological Clock Genes Could Influence Addiction
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=research-reveals-faulty-b

✖ Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=television-addiction-is-n
Understanding how closely compulsive TV viewing resembles other forms of addiction may help couch potatoes control their habit.

✖ Where Addiction Lies
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=where-addiction-lies

✖ Cocaine Addiction Linked to Differences in Brain Structure
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cocaine-addiction-linked

✖ Predisposition to Addiction Found in Cocaine Study
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=addiction-compulsive-dopamine-cocaine
A lack of dopamine receptors in a specific brain region could trigger increased compulsions, such as drug addiction

✖ Closing in on Addiction
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=closing-in-on-addiction
New findings suggest a biochemical common ground

✖ Meth-Head Snails’ Enhanced Memories Offer Clue to Why Addiction Is Hard to Control
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=methamphetamine-snails
Memories formed by snails under the influence of methamphetamine were stronger than those formed under drug-free conditions, suggesting that mental associations are powerful drivers of compulsive drug use

✖ How Morphine Breaks the Brain’s Brakes May Be Key to Breaking Addiction
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=morphine-breaks-the-brain
Study of rat brains identifies new culprit and possible therapeutic target for addiction

✖ Indoor Tanning Is Addictive, Study Finds
http://www.livescience.com/health/indoor-tanning-addiction-100419.html

✖ Sun Worshipers Addicted Like Alcoholics
http://www.livescience.com/health/070314_tan_addict.html

✖ ‘Romantic Love Is an Addiction,’ Researchers Say
http://www.livescience.com/culture/romantic-rejection-brain-100706.html

Internet Addicts Get First U.S. Treatment Clinic
http://www.livescience.com/health/090827-internet-rehab.html

✖ 2 of a Kind: Studies Reveal New Insights into the Psychology of Gambling
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=two-gambling-studies
Two new gambling studies redefine the “poker face” and peer inside the betting brain, helping researchers understand risk-taking behavior and decision-making

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