Is addiction a disease or choice? Disease model on trial

Addiction treatment providers continue to give different and often controversial explanation of aetiology of substance addictions. While majority seem to hold steadfast to the idea that addiction is a disease, the other theorists maintain to the contrary that addiction is merely a choice. The advocates of brain disease model argue that acceptance of their view will reduce the stigmatization. On the contrary, critics of the brain disease model claim that placing responsibility for addiction on the individual’s ‘brain’ neglects the role of other factors, e.g. social environment, religiosity, person’s will – as contributors to addiction. In conclusion, the complexity of addiction phenomenon requires also a complex approach in understanding of addictions, integrating the evidence-based and common-sense arguments of several explanatory models.