Diseased person model in drug rehabilitation

A controversial topic in drug addiction treatment is the diseased person model. Diseased person model, according to wikipedia:

Some psychotherapists question the validity of the "diseased person" model used within the drug rehabilitation environment. Instead, they state the individual person is entirely capable of rejecting previous behaviors. Further, they contend the use of the disease model of addiction simply perpetuates the addicts' feelings of worthlessness, powerlessness, and inevitably causes inner conflicts that could be resolved if the addict were to approach addiction as behavior that is no longer productive, the same as childhood tantrums. Most drug rehabilitation programs do not utilize any of these ideas, inasmuch as they are seen to contradict the assumption the addict is a sick person in need of help.

So, this is open to discussion. I agree with some psychotherapists on the issue, especially with the idea that the diseased person model perpetuates the addicted person's emotions and situation.

This is not a controversy unique to substance abuse treatment. There is always this conflict between psychotherapists and other health professionals. The society tends to behave towards each member as if they are never grown up and are still children regardless of their age.

Ironically, many drug addicts are addicts just because of this paradigm, at least in my opinion. Treating a person as if she will never grow up ends up in unhealthy behavior in that person.

Of course, I can understand that the addict may be very agitated by his or her situation and should be treated accordingly. However, this is not the issue. This looks something like learning and implementing respect to others in every corner of life.

Therefore, I don't think that the diseased person model discussion is unique to drug recovery efforts. It's everywhere in our society.