More and more I’m seeing so-called professionals labeling addictions as a disease. It’s not a disease, it’s a lack of personal control.

I know, they’re trying to argue that, but I believe it’s the truth. Addiction is what happens when a person isn’t strong enough, intelligent enough or developed enough to resist. It’s being labeled as a disease so people don’t have to take responsibility for their actions and so the pharmaceutical companies and mental health “professionals” can make more money. Your addiction is not a disease, it’s something you need to become strong enough to deal with.

For anyone thinking I don’t have a leg to stand on, I’ll let you know I’m a former addict. My addiction was a result of peer pressure and my own weakness. I hated myself and my life, and I took drugs to get away from it. I got addicted to the feeling and the social acceptance. I didn’t stop because I didn’t want to face reality. It was my own weakness. I wasn’t sick, I was just mentally and emotionally messed up, and needed to get through that.

Then I met someone online and we became friends. He talked me through getting clean. I quit cold turkey in one night and have never looked back. I didn’t need prescription drugs or a therapist or NA, I just needed to be strong and give it up. I needed to get my sh!t together and be stronger than the drugs and the reasons I was doing them. It wasn’t a disease that I miraculously cured, it was a weakness that I overcame.

Right now society calls drug and alcohol abuse and sex addiction diseases. They aren’t. They’re just personal weaknesses. Those people could learn to overcome, they could gain control, if only they wanted to. Depending on how bad it is, they might need support rather than facing it solo, but it’s not a disease. It’s like depression or anger issues. It’s just another thing that people need to learn to deal with, work through and overcome. All these conditions can be overcome without medication.

I know people may argue, but this is what I believe, and there’s research out there to back it up. Having lived it, I believe it even more than I previously did. I think the corporations are just trying to convince people that they have no control over themselves. “It’s a disease, you can’t help it.” Bullsh!t. You can, and you should. You can have control over yourself, you just need to do it.

How do you feel about addictions being labeled as a disease that people aren’t responsible for?

Briana Blair

Briana Blair is an author and artisan. She has published more then 30 books and thousands of articles across multiple sites. After practicing Paganism and witchcraft for 25 years, she's now on a journey as an atheist and skeptic. She's eclectic, unpredictable, and always evolving. Facebook - Twitter