"Diseases of the Brain"

In your opinion, to what extent are personal problems like depression or addiction "diseases of the brain" or personal failings? Discuss examples of psychological issues that you have observed in friends and family that are related to the function of the brain in some way.

I believe that personal problems like depression or addiction are “diseases of the brain.” Yes, in some cases people choose their actions and it is based on their personal failings of making the wrong decisions at times, however every choice every person makes goes on in his/her brain before one makes his/her decision. My aunt is an alcoholic. I know that she chooses to drink and she makes those decisions, but in her eyes she “needs” to do it. She cannot get through some days without drinking alcohol. There is something wrong with someone’s brain if they truly feel this way. Other diseases like depression, anxiety, ADHD, and others are all related to the brain. People cannot help the way they think or feel, it just happens. They are not all real diseases, but to the brain they definitely are.

Also, my aunt's mother, who is also my grandma, was also an alcoholic as well. I am not positively sure, but I think that these types of diseases are genetic. Therefor, no one can have personal failings if they have these diseases because it was passed onto them through genetics.