I’m sorry, hold up, what do you think I’m doing here? When someone comes to me for a drug and alcohol eval, I dont tell them what to do. I ask what they want, if they think their use is a problem, if they want treatment, etc. All I do is provide options. That’s what individualized person-centered care is.

What makes you think i do anything different?

I can provide you resources on substance use disorders if you really want but I do this for a living so I’m not eager to. I would say look into ASAM. Addiction Medicine is a developing field but we’re finding more empowering ways to help people through validation and support.

the problem in the language here is really what does mental disorder really mean? it isn’t about genetics. a disorder just means life is out of order. etiology is irrelevant. is the framing of it as a mental disorder somehow uncomfortable to you? it might seem critical if you still think of MH issues as “mental illnesses”, but that’s not what’s going on. identifying problematic behavioral patterns as a psychological problem enables us to treat it appropriately instead of with stigma.

and to be clear, no one is expected to do what they don’t want to do.