Exploration of the Autonomy Issues in Addiction Treatment / 中国医学伦理学

ABSTRACT

Addiction is a state of chronic neurological dysfunction with repetitive and compulsive behavior as the main manifestation. One of the characteristics of this state is that addicts have significantly reduced autonomy for compulsive behaviors. The emergence of addictive behavior is based on the impaired autonomy of addicts, so the assessment of their condition, prognosis, and related moral responsibility are all related to their autonomy. By exploring whether the treatment of addicts should be based on autonomy as the core indicator to evaluate whether they can end treatment, and exploring the debate on addicts’ autonomy based on the disease model and moral model of addiction, it is believed that whether addicts have autonomy cognition is influenced by the causes of addiction. Furthermore, the issue of moral responsibility of addicts after treatment termination and the quantitative feasibility of autonomy were discussed, and it was advocated to determine the moral responsibility after addiction treatment based on their autonomy.