The express route to mental illness

From today's edition of The Globe and Mail:

From the lab to the legislature, the push is on to recognize and treat addiction as a mental illness. A growing body of research finds addiction is not the result of bad behaviour or weak character, but the result of biochemical disruptions in the brain that genetically vulnerable people are, on their own, powerless to overcome. It distorts mood, clear thinking and compulsion control. People who suffer from it, scientists believe, can no more talk themselves out of their dependence any more than people can talk themselves out of depression.

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The push is on to recognize addiction as a mental illness (Tonia Cowan/The Globe and Mail)

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