Title : The impact of culture on addiction - can explanatory models go far enough to treat addiction
Abstract:
Addiction. Labeled a disease by the dominant Medical Explanatory Model, it remains a phenomenon that is widely debated by authors who contest this concept using reductive models that claim it to be a physical-level disorder. Treating the manifestation of behaviour and not addressing social factors that influence human behaviour is problematic. This research suggests that a philosophical approach and critique of the reified addiction-as-concept is needed, before addressing the impact that non-evolutionary and evolutionary factors may have on our human behavioural landscape. If the aim is to relieve the addict, then crucially we need to take into account the influence of culture, and how it can be put to use to help redirect the dominant discourse on addiction. Because culture is conscious and ubiquitous, it is a proactive, transformative process that is busy at work in the lives of each humanbeing. When harnessing culture’s influential role, the two Explanatory Models of addiction need not compete, but work together to treat the addict. A combined approach is necessary, one that can be applied in a community health setting working within interdisciplinary frameworks. The need for new ways of thinking is necessary in order to develop innovative approaches to support and provide early intervention.
