May 2nd, 2008 by jgold454

Drug addiction and alcohol addiction are both classified as diseases today. But many people make the mistake of thinking of them as physical diseases. In fact, both drug and alcohol abuse are mental diseases, with a physical manifestation. It is not the other way round.

If you consider this, you will realize that substance abuse is a very serious mental condition because it plays on both the body and the mind.Why do we maintain that drug and alcohol addictions are mental diseases? That’s because most of the problems of the addiction are caused due to mental deficiencies, and even the effects of the addiction are more pronounced on the brain. The body is merely a vehicle. When the person abuses any substance, it is the effect on the brain and the immunity created therein that makes him or her consume more of the substance. It is the brain that converts a substance abuse into a substance addiction. Further in the game, effects like impaired thinking, poor memory, lack of concentration and inability to rationalize things make their presence felt first. All these are mental conditions. Even the urge that makes a person consume more of the substance is born in the mind.

Isn’t it absolutely necessary then that the substance abuse treatment centers must focus more on the treatment of the mind than the treatment of the body? Counseling and training therapies are much more important than a physical detox. A single detox of a week or longer can purge the toxins from the body, but it is more important to remove the negative thoughts from the mind to make sure the person is really on the way to treatment.