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Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

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21–30 of 166 posts

Re: Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

#21
post #14

This can't be true if we're still going to use the (useless) metaphor of demonic possession to describe every aspect of substance abuse.

A demon is something scary that lives inside of you. I think it's an OK metaphor.

Addictions don't live inside you, they are part of your behavior.

edit: really - addictions don't live inside you, perched on your heart, making you do bad things. They are not different than you.

Re: Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

#23
post #3

I don't know if I'm the only one experiencing blurry font, but it distracts me from reading anything said.

Me too. There is an annoying text-shadow: 0px 0px 1px

Folks do that because it looks "good" on safari on macs and don't realize it looks horrible elsewhere.

Re: Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

#25
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A demon is something scary that lives inside of you. I think it's an OK metaphor.

Addictions don't live inside you, they are part of your behavior. edit: really - addictions don't live inside you, perched on your heart, making you do bad things. They are not different than you.

Right. That's why it's a metaphor and not a real demon. It's just as scary as a demon because it feels like you can't control your actions.

Re: Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's explicitly named in Philosophy of Mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_theory_of_mind

Thanks for the link - although I'm referring more to the (potentially false) analogy with present-day digital computers as opposed to the claim that the brain is a type of computational instrument, which is hard to find fault with. It's interesting how different eras apply their own en vogue technologies to understanding the mind. (I.e. Descartes and other late 17th and 18th c. thinkers visualized mental functions as…

> It's interesting how different eras apply their own en vogue technologies to understanding the mind. (I.e. Descartes and other late 17th and 18th c. thinkers visualized mental functions as clockwork-like mechanical interactions, the 20th century witnessed lots of "brain as factory" imagery, and now we're stuck on the brain as a network of computers).

And each era got better and better models, and closer to the truth. The future eras' models of the brain will look much more like 'a network of computers' than an immaterial soul...

Re: Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

#27
post #15

This can't be true if we're still going to use the (useless) metaphor of demonic possession to describe every aspect of substance abuse.

I've seen some ministries report a 50% success rate re curing addiction for people who join. So social recovery forms of drug treatment are very successful and might include things like exorcism and whatnot as part of belonging to the flock, I suppose. Sure, we know from science and Occam's razor that devils and gods probably don't exist, but that doesn't mean participating doesn't show proven benefits. Although the…

> I've seen some ministries report a 50% success rate re curing addiction for people who join.

Come off it - where's the control group, where's the blinding, how big is the sample size, etc etc.

Re: Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

#28
post #15

This can't be true if we're still going to use the (useless) metaphor of demonic possession to describe every aspect of substance abuse.

I've seen some ministries report a 50% success rate re curing addiction for people who join. So social recovery forms of drug treatment are very successful and might include things like exorcism and whatnot as part of belonging to the flock, I suppose. Sure, we know from science and Occam's razor that devils and gods probably don't exist, but that doesn't mean participating doesn't show proven benefits. Although the…

> I've seen some ministries report a 50% success rate re curing addiction for people who join.

Ministries are not known for their careful scientific rigor in defining and measuring success rates. That 50% could be coming from any of a number of biases ranging from blatant to subtle: "How to have a high success rate in treatment: advice for evaluators of alcoholism programs", Miller & Sanchez-Craig 1996 http://slatestarcodex.com/Stuff/addiction.pdf is a semi-humorous paper from some frustrated researchers describing how these bogus numbers come about (discussion: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/02/two-dark-side-statistic... ).

Re: Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

#29
post #15

This can't be true if we're still going to use the (useless) metaphor of demonic possession to describe every aspect of substance abuse.

I've seen some ministries report a 50% success rate re curing addiction for people who join. So social recovery forms of drug treatment are very successful and might include things like exorcism and whatnot as part of belonging to the flock, I suppose. Sure, we know from science and Occam's razor that devils and gods probably don't exist, but that doesn't mean participating doesn't show proven benefits. Although the…

All [edit: talking] therapies work, regardless of content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo_bird_verdict

edit: and everything that you said is true. Don't be discouraged by the downvotes. People are downvoting facts that they don't that don't accord with with their prejudices, rather than people participating in bad faith or spreading misinformation.

Re: Most People with Addiction Simply Grow Out of It

#30
I'm not a psychologist but I've had a pretty fucked up mental state for many years. The same can be loosely said mental illness - for it is just that, an illness.

Having said, I'm still waiting on the day that I don't need to reach for my bottle of Vyvanse (Adderall, only exponentially less shitty and more amazing) every morning.

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