The Disease Controversy Revisited: An Ontologic Perspective

Abstract

The current debate over the disease model of addictive behaviors is briefly reviewed, and the ill-will between some advocates and opponents of disease conceptions is noted. The recognition that language distinguishes humans from other living beings is introduced, in which one's reality is generated linguistically. This is fundamentally divergent from the rationalistic view that there is an objective world, free of observer bias, that language seeks to describe. Consequently, diseases are seen as interpretations, or attempts to ascribe meaning to a set of observations. Since meaning happens only in language, diseases are necessarily linguistic distinctions, and not physical entities. The author recommends efforts be directed toward developing innovative treatment approaches, rather than quarreling over the veracity of addiction as disease. Listening for the explicit and implicit rules that patients live by and assisting them to invent new realities and practices in language that permit more productive moves is advocated.