Is Addiction a “Moral Failing?”
Across the broad field of addiction recovery, there are many opinions about what addiction really is. Does it really make much difference which definition is correct? It does. Different forms of treatment are based on these differing concepts and definitions of addiction. If the underlying definition of addiction is erroneous, then the treatment based on that definition may miss the mark.
For a moment, let’s look at the disease concept of addiction. This concept assumes that it is a physical illness similar to diabetes or heart disease, the diseases most commonly used for comparison. So if addiction is defined as a disease, it would seem logical to treat that problem with medication. Therefore, there are rehab programs that use prescription drugs in the beginning, middle and end of the treatment program, and after the person leaves.
But there are millions of people around the world who are involved in Twelve Step meetings. When a person succeeds in recovering from addiction this way, it casts doubt upon a definition of addiction that includes the concept of disease as the Twelve Step process includes no provision for disease.
If addiction was truly a physical disease, perhaps genetically based, housed in the physical tissue of the brain, then medication might be a good solution, as it is with when bacteria invade a person’s lungs. If it is a disease, then there would be no “moral failing” involved in addiction. A person who wishes to recover can feel that there is no need to examine the harm he (or she) has done to himself or others. After all, it is just a disease that the individual himself is not responsible for, the same as if he comes down with a cold.
So is there a moral failing involved in an addiction? There may or may not be, but the lack of basic life skills often leads a person to try to solve their problems with drugs. This, in turn, leads to a lessening of reason and ability to abide by their own morals and those set forth by the society. The following quotes from graduates of our rehabilitation program give real-life examples of this. We asked these graduates questions about what they learned from the life skills portion of the Narconon program.
One of these graduates described the changes he experienced in this part of the program this way:
“… learning the life skills and figuring out how to handle life gave me the ability to really live my life and handle things without escaping or running away and using drugs…”
"Going through the Narconon program, I realized that I didn't know how to live. Going through the program, learning the life skills and figuring out how to handle life gave me the ability to really live my life and handle things without escaping or running away and using drugs. I was finally in control of myself and my life.”
Here’s another one:
“Before [these courses] I thought you didn’t have to be totally honest in life as long as you told the truth most of the time. Then I started to realize how important honesty was and what it really meant to make right decisions in life. And then once I started operating that way, I started doing things that were right for everyone involved, not just me. When I started being honest, I noticed such a difference in my quality of life. It was shocking to me what honesty and integrity can do for a person.”
And one more:
“One of the things that kept me using drugs so much was that I was doing these bad things and I had no way to rectify what I was doing or take responsibility for it. I was living this criminal lifestyle and I felt bad and I was guilty. [The life skills courses at Narconon] taught me about responsibility and gave me a way to right my wrongs and really take responsibility for myself at the end that really worked. And afterward, it was like I weighed a pound. I mean, I felt so light.”
As a person begins using drugs or starts getting drunk regularly, he gives up some responsibility for his life and his future. If he never turns this trend around, he may find his condition deteriorating. He may begin to harm those he loves by being abusive with a spouse or by stealing from his family.
If he enters treatment and is only given medication as a solution, he does not have a chance to rehabilitate his own spiritual and moral condition. That is the purpose of the life skills portion of the Narconon program.
If he does not have this chance, he may forever miss some parts of recovery that would be essential to his long-term sobriety.
It’s possible that in erroneous definitions of addiction, you could have an explanation of why some people do not succeed after they return home from treatment. When a person has a chance to examine and repair any moral deterioration that occurred before or during the time he spent addicted, he truly earns his right to stay sober.