Toward an epistemology of “addictive disease”

This article examines the social perception of disease. Understanding medical perceptions provides an opportunity to gain insight into factors that influence health care seeking behavior patterns, treatment compliance and social policy. This paper views addictive disease models as metaphorical substitutes for moral turpitude models. This conclusion suggests that it is important for health care providers to carefully and instrumentally apply their language to facilitate patient compliance with treatment protocols, in general, and psychotherapy in particular.