brain disease Archives - The Clean Slate Addiction Site

Addiction science exposed: recreational cocaine users’ brains are hijacked too!

A dramatic piece of addiction research used to prop up the brain disease model of addiction was blown to pieces this year: cue induced craving. You’ve probably seen this “science” portrayed on television over the years. Some very serious looking scientists in a quiet lab full of fancy equipment put a cocaine addict into a… Continue reading Addiction science exposed: recreational cocaine users’ brains are hijacked too!

Nora Volkow (NIDA) uses Scare Quotes when referring to Free Will

Nora Volkow undermines her own disease theory of addiction by demonstrating her lack of belief in free will. She does this by scare-quoting several free will terms in her writing.

Conceptual Confusion In Modern Neuroscience

Consider these important philosophical questions in the brain disease of addiction debate: Do brains use substances, or do people use substances? Does the brain walk down to the store, buy a drink, open it, and drink it – or does a person do all of that? Does a brain seek pleasure – or does a person?

Obesity as a Brain Disease

The dimwitted Nora Volkow will eventually destroy her own argument when she declares every unfavorable behavior to be disease. Currently, she’s got her sight set on food addiction; I can’t wait till she takes on things that involve no consumption whatsoever, such as video games. She really misses the point.

Choice and Will Power

Will-Power is often confused as being the key element in a choice based model of addiction. One needn’t deny their will in order to solve a substance use problem. Just because addiction is not a disease, that doesn’t mean that one must live with constant “cravings” or desires to use drugs and alcohol. Learn more about a choice based model of addiction here.

Food Addiction = Drug Addiction, and Vice Versa

Overeating is like drug addiction, and drug addiction is like overeating. That’s the message in a recent story from NPR where they quote a Yale scientist who says
“The motivation to take cocaine in the case of a drug addict is probably engaging similar circuits that the motivation to eat is in a hungry person.” Well, why would you think the two behaviors were that different in the first place?

Disclosure & Copyright Notice

Many links to books referenced throughout this site go directly to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You will also notice some ads for books from Amazon as well, from which I will also earn a commission. I have chosen to link only to books I personally approve of to fund the upkeep of this website ethically.

© Steven Slate/The Clean Slate Addiction Site, 2010-2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any original written material on this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Steven Slate and The Clean Slate Addiction Site with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Addiction Is Not A Brain Disease. Logic, neuroscience, epidemiology, and social psychology all demonstrate this.

This site is dedicated to presenting a different view of addiction: That it is all about choice, and that you can permanently change your substance use habits without fear of relapse or a lifetime spent in meetings and treatment.

Some of you might be wondering whether I know about all the scientific proof that addiction is a brain disease. I'm well aware of the scientific facts and their misinterpretation. Here's my critical analysis of the brain disease model of addiction.

This site is not presenting a model of "recovery" because addiction is not a disease from which one can recover. It is freely chosen behavior, which anyone can freely choose to abandon at any point. This is not recovery from a disease, it is a change like any other change in day to day living that people make in their lives.

I am dedicated to presenting information about addiction from a non-disease perspective, so that people can learn how to feel free and in control of their substance use, and be empowered to change it to whatever degree will make them happiest in their lives. "Addiction is a choice" - that is, you can choose whether to hold or dismiss every thought and belief that motivates you to use substances heavily - and thus you can choose whether to continue any pattern of substance use or not - at will.

Reading any particular article on this website will not force you to change. Hopefully though, you will find some information that helps you to believe that change is possible for you - that it is within reach. This is one key ingredient in changing the mindset that fuels "addiction."