Addiction is a mental illness - so why is it we don't treat alcohol, drugs & gambling addictions as illness

There is a fine line between, selling a story in the media & being detrimental to someone's mental health and wellbeing.

I woke up to the media once again selling papers on the back of some negative press around the NRL.

Kieran Foran has been public about the struggles with mental health that he is enduring this season - the latest headlines have centred around a gambling addiction.

When will people begin to realise that addiction, be it alcohol, gambling or drugs - is a form of mental illness. This man, Kieran Foran is struggling with issues that are an attack on his brain - why do we find it newsworthy or even possible to almost ridicule a human being who is struggling with such an illness.

If a player is diagnosed with cancer we come out as a community and within the media to support, love, care and show empathy towards the player, yet when it's mental illness we still continue the same conversations that had lead mental illness to be stigmatised for so long..

With cancer, or any type of physical illness - we medically treat it, show love and empathy toward the player and the family; when are we going to start treating these illnesses instead of splashing it on newspapers and making mockery out of what the individual is experiencing..

Drug addiction, alcohol addiction & gambling addictions are all forms of mental illness - let's open the conversation to support  & treat the people in need!!

Jw