Addiction: The Devil Made Me Do It

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03cdedc2ddualp.png"> <div> <A HREF="id140.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Index by subject"><U><B>Index by subject</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Index by date"><U><B>Index by date</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FAQs"><U><B>FAQs</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Dr. Silverman"><U><B>About Dr. Silverman</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id146.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Great links"><U><B>Great links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mind Reader© archive"><U><B>The Mind Reader© archive</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="03d64643.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#666633" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></FONT>    |     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> Addiction: The Devil Made Me Do It</div> <div> <B>Addiction:  The Devil Made Me Do It</B></div> <div> <U>By Wade H. Silverman, Ph.D.</U></div> <div> <U>November 1998</U></div> <div>      Do you remember the "twinkie defense" in the murders of Mayor Moscone and District Supervisor Harvey Milk in San Francisco?  A disgruntled official claimed he ate too much junk food and that the chemicals in the food made him pump five gun shots into Moscone and Milk.</div> <div>      Does this sound strange?  Chemical imbalances and addictions are increasingly being used as excuses for all manner of irresponsible and criminal behavior.  Addiction used to refer to someone whose behavior was influenced by what has been referred to as hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine, or amphetamines.  Movies and television portray the addict as crazed, willing to do almost anything for a hit.</div> <div>      Implied in the use of the term addiction is a powerlessness on the part of the addict to make decisions and to control his/her behavior.  This is then used as a reason or cause.  President Clinton has a sexual addiction.  That is why he had an affair in the Oval Office.  The Airforce cadet killed for his girlfriend because he had a love addiction.  The Olympic bomber destroyed and maimed because he had an addiction to religion.</div> <bR> <div>      The courts have already ruled in the case of alcoholism that the individual who is substance dependent is responsible for the consequences of his/her behavior while under the influence.  Yet, we continue to hear arguments based upon the addiction excuse.  How does some inert substance whether a drug or food whisper in your ear to do something wrong?  This is as ridiculous as the notion that adults do not have control over what they do.  There is no coercion in substance abuse or other compulsive behavior.  For the most part, people take drugs because they enjoy it.  People engage in other compulsive activities such as eating, sexual activities or internet use simply because this is what they <I>want</I> to do. </div> <div>      A psychologist may be useful in helping substance abusers confront their addiction.</div> <div> <I>  </I></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>