Well, as I have said several times it’s a matter of definition and how wide you want to define “addiction” is arbitrary.
Sure, you can define it as positive-feedback loops that subvert conscious control over behavior or something like that—but recall that all definitions must serve a purpose and without one there is no reason to prefer one over another. What’s the purpose here?
Note that the purpose cannot be “Can we call eating disorders addictions?” because that’s a pure definition question—however you define “addiction” will be the answer.
The purpose is to recognize harmful behaviours that people could benefit from fixing and that those behaviours might have similarities that can be exploited. If you browse porn 12 hours a day, it’s quite probable you realize you have a problem, but have significant difficulty in changing your behaviour. If you want to browse porn 12 hours a day, then that’s fine too, and nobody should try to fix you without your permission.
“Can we call eating disorders addictions?”
I don’t care what you call them, it suffices that the above purposes are fulfilled and that people understand each other.
those behaviours might have similarities that can be exploited.
I am highly suspicious of calling a variety of behaviors “addiction” as it implies both the lack of responsibility on the part of the subject and the justification of imposing external rules/constraints on him.
I don’t know of any successful attempts to treat obesity as if it were a true-addiction kind of disorder. One of the problems is that the classic approach to treating addiction is to isolate the addict from the addictive substance. Hard to do that with food and hard to avoid yummy stuff outside of a clinic.
I don’t know of any successful attempts to treat obesity as if it were a true-addiction kind of disorder.
What does this mean? That some people need bariatric surgeries to limit their eating is a pretty clear indicator they can’t control their eating. The kind of isolation rehab you’re talking about is an extreme measure even when treating drug addictions, and comprises a marginal proportion of addiction treatment.
Think nicotine replacement and varenicline for tobacco addiction or naltrexone and disulfiram for alcoholism and we’ll start to be on the same page. Note that I’m not implying these are hugely successful either. All addictions are difficult to treat.
Also certain addiction vocabulary and self awareness techniques like identifying triggers could be relevant for treating compulsive behaviour.
Well, as I have said several times it’s a matter of definition and how wide you want to define “addiction” is arbitrary.
Sure, you can define it as positive-feedback loops that subvert conscious control over behavior or something like that—but recall that all definitions must serve a purpose and without one there is no reason to prefer one over another. What’s the purpose here?
Note that the purpose cannot be “Can we call eating disorders addictions?” because that’s a pure definition question—however you define “addiction” will be the answer.
The purpose is to recognize harmful behaviours that people could benefit from fixing and that those behaviours might have similarities that can be exploited. If you browse porn 12 hours a day, it’s quite probable you realize you have a problem, but have significant difficulty in changing your behaviour. If you want to browse porn 12 hours a day, then that’s fine too, and nobody should try to fix you without your permission.
I don’t care what you call them, it suffices that the above purposes are fulfilled and that people understand each other.
I am highly suspicious of calling a variety of behaviors “addiction” as it implies both the lack of responsibility on the part of the subject and the justification of imposing external rules/constraints on him.
I don’t know of any successful attempts to treat obesity as if it were a true-addiction kind of disorder. One of the problems is that the classic approach to treating addiction is to isolate the addict from the addictive substance. Hard to do that with food and hard to avoid yummy stuff outside of a clinic.
Taboo responsibility.
What does this mean? That some people need bariatric surgeries to limit their eating is a pretty clear indicator they can’t control their eating. The kind of isolation rehab you’re talking about is an extreme measure even when treating drug addictions, and comprises a marginal proportion of addiction treatment.
Think nicotine replacement and varenicline for tobacco addiction or naltrexone and disulfiram for alcoholism and we’ll start to be on the same page. Note that I’m not implying these are hugely successful either. All addictions are difficult to treat.
Also certain addiction vocabulary and self awareness techniques like identifying triggers could be relevant for treating compulsive behaviour.