Relapse Prevention
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The Disease Model of Addiction
It is important to know what beliefs a person has about abuse or addiction in order to understand how a person will approach a change or recovery plan. The "disease model of addiction" was made popular by AA and the American Medical Association and is still a popular model used by many people. This older model has been criticized and new models of addiction and recovery have been proposed.
Today, the main beliefs of disease-model thinking are:
- Most addicts don't know they have a problem and must be forced to recognize they are addicts.
- Addicts cannot control themselves when they drink or take drugs.
- The only solution to drug addiction and/or alcoholism is treatment.
- Addiction is an all-or-nothing disease: A person cannot be a temporary drug addict with a mild drinking or drug problem.
- The most important step in overcoming an addiction is to acknowledge that you are powerless and can't control it.
- Physiology, not psychology, determines whether one drinker will become addicted to alcohol and another will not.
- The fact that alcoholism runs in families means that it is a genetic disease.
- People who are drug addicted can never outgrow addiction and are always in danger of relapsing.
