There's a question in here which we haven't really talked about yet. Is addiction a disease or a vice? Is this something that happens to you or is this a thing that is somehow your fault in some way or that you have agency in starting? How does that, because just the question of whether it's disease is a difficult one, right? Yes. I worry about calling addiction a disease because I think it's a double edged sword. To call addiction a disease has served as an important plank in advocacy efforts. It helps argue for insurance coverage or for hospitals to treat people with addiction.
Carl Erik Fisher is a psychiatrist, bioethicist and recovering alcoholic who has spent years tracing the history of addiction. His new book is The Urge: Our History of Addiction, a sweeping study of the issue and an urgent call for a more expansive, nuanced and compassionate view of one of society's most difficult challenges. In conversation with Carl is physicist, oceanographer and science presenter, Helen Czerski.
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