Free will, or freedom of choice, is the capacity to choose between different options or courses of action. A belief in free will makes a person take more responsibility for their actions, recognizing that everything they do is a choice and not forced upon them by some outside power. Free will is particularly important in addiction recovery because without it people would believe that there’s no hope of change and therefore no point in trying. Those who don’t believe in free will are also more prone to impulsive, reckless actions.
The issue of free will does entangle with addiction in complicated ways. For one thing, the accepted view now is that addiction is a disease and not a choice. This leads some people to blame their continuing struggles on external factors, saying it was genetics or another person’s fault for causing them stress or giving them drugs for the first time. While it is true that no one chooses to be predisposed to addiction, or that given a choice they would prefer the myriad negative effects over getting clean, there is still an element of free will. You choose to try that first hit of an illicit substance. You choose to carry on harming yourself and other people even after recognizing you’ve developed a dependence to a drug. You choose not to seek help or not to stay in treatment. It’s long been said that you can try to force someone to get help, but it’s not going to work unless they decide they want it.
Denial of free will is also an excuse to continue with bad behaviors. For example, you might tell yourself that it’s not really your fault that you’re forced to steal from your family because didn’t have a choice about becoming addicted. Or it’s not your fault that you got into a violent altercation with someone as a result of your drug use, because you had no control over your actions. This kind of thinking can lead down other dangerous paths. If you have no free will, why think for yourself? Why care about others? Why care if you live or die? It might be attractive, in a way, to think that you have no free will because then you don’t have to deal with guilt. In the end, however, you’re only going to end up hurting yourself and everyone around you.
It’s been suggested that the way to integrate the addiction as a disease theory with a belief in free will is to slightly alter the meaning of disease. For example, comparing addiction to diabetes provides a helpful parallel. You might be born with genetic factors predisposing you to diabetes, and there’s nothing you can do about that, but you can take control of the illness going forward. You make smart choices about what you eat and take the proper medication, and you can live a perfectly normal life. Similarly, there is always a point where you can look back at your addiction and realize that you could have done something differently to get back on a healthy path.
If you or a loved one need help to quit drugs or alcohol, consider Asana Recovery. We offer medical detox, along with both residential and outpatient programs, and you’ll be supervised by a highly trained staff of medical professionals, counselors, and therapists. Call us any time at (949) 438-4504.
