Is Addiction A Choice, Disease Or Self-Medication

This is a classic debate; where you stand on the issue will effect how a person copes with addiction and how a helping professional treats addiction in their practice. Clearly this is an important topic to consider. Marc Lewis P.H.D takes a practical view explaining the process by which a person becomes biologically addicted. He then goes on to discuss how analogy models, such as calling addiction a disease or a choice, can be harmful or helpful depending on which aspect is considered most important. For example, if it is conceptualized as a disease then a person can cite fatalism as the reason they cannot kick the habit. I was pleased when the author admitted that “science” is an approximation in similar ways to the use of metaphors in language. It’s easy to forget that science is an attempt to explain our actual sensory experiences. The experiences necessarily come first, and our senses are not perfect tools with which to interpret scientific data. We are trying to explain the experience of addiction, and cannot rid ourselves of experience in the explanation. Otherwise, of what worth would the explanation be? I’ve read studies recently that confirm that environmental experience actually changes a person’s RNA. This seems to give support that addiction is a multidimensional phenomena. What are your thoughts and experiences?