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waterfield
I think we are talking over each other hear and maybe quarreling over "addiction" v "compulsions". To me if a certain "compulsion" cannot be contained it is no different than an "addiction". Indeed I would call it an "addiction". And it needs treatment if in fact it is affecting one's life and family.

You wrote: ", there is no evidence that the activity or substance in this case CAUSES the behavior"

I never made the case it does. To me that is irrelevant if the behavior cannot be controlled and is damaging one's life. There are many studies debating whether continued use of cannabis over a long period of time can become physically addictive such as in alcohol. To me that's not material -at least to my point which is that compulsive or addictive behavior that damages one's life should be treated no matter if the agent being abused is not in and of itself "addictive".

BTW: In the Journal of "Addictive" Diseases (Vol 19, 2000 Issue 1) there is an excellent research article on brain morphological changes resulting from the use of pot.

I began by agreeing with what YOU said. After that not every word in that post is agreement or disagreement with you. It's a platform to make key points. And I made a lot of points you';re just missing. In fact you don't seem to be following the argument.

Plus I never said you said this: "there is no evidence that the activity or substance in this case CAUSES the behavior."

Anyway I was making a very key point which you're completely missing. No one can say WHY there is supposed to be a distinction between the compulsive habits assosciated with gambling, pot, eating, and so forth. And remember that's a tiny minority in relation to each type of compulsive fixation. FAR more people gamble than get addicted to it. EVERYONE eats and only a tiny minority develop eating fixations. A TINY minority of pot users end up with the same kind of psychological compulsive habit gamblers have (which is another way of saying, a tiny minority of pot smokers meet the definition of psychological addiction. AND since it's their problem and not the pot, the exact same people would probably just get hooked on something else.)

So why aren't those just all the same type of person? Which is the key point you just don't address at all.

And given that why aren't people in this conversation looking at the studies showing the OTHER psychological addictions make in peoples physical brain make-up? Cause those exist too. Though I notice in conversations like this people constantly forget that. Chances are people don't even bother to look, which means they're approaching the entire issue the wrong way.

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from How the Brain Gets Addicted to Gambling

The APA based its decision on numerous recent studies in psychology, neuroscience and genetics demonstrating that gambling and drug addiction are far more similar than previously realized.

[www.scientificamerican.com]

But then just as only a tiny minority of people who gamble get compulsively hooked on it, it's the same with the tiny minority who get a compulsive habit around marijuana. And in fact that's most likely the same kind of person in terms of their psychological hard-wiring.



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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2016 10:04AM by zn.