Addiction

Your easy to read guide to causes, prevention and treatment of conditions such as:

• Drug Addiction
• Alcohol Addiction
• Behavioural Addiction

An addiction is a recurring compulsion to engage in some specific activity. This may apply to drug addictions, alcohol addiction, smoking addiction, compulsive eating and many behavioural addictions such as gambling and obsessive compulsive disorders.

Addiction is as hard to define as it is to treat, with a wide continuum between compulsive behaviour to addiction and between dependence and addiction.

Regardless of your chose definition, it is important to realize that 'addiction' is an illness, and do not only affect those that many categorize as weak minded.

Addictions often have both physical and psychological components.

Pseudo Addiction

A lesser known condition, called pseudo-addiction, occurs when a patient exhibits drug-seeking behavior similiar to psychological addiction, but have genuine pain or other symptoms that have been undertreated. Unlike true psychological addiction, these behaviors tend to stop when the pain is adequately treated.

Not all doctors agree on what addiction or dependency.

Contemporary Debate

The traditional view of addiction is defined as being possible only to a psychoactive substance [alcohol, tobacco and other drugs) which ingested cross the blood-brain barrier, altering the natural chemical behavior of the brain temporarily.

The more modern perspecitve includes psychological dependency on such things as gambling, food, sex, pornography, computers, work, exercise, cutting, and shopping / spending. These 'tasks' cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and hence, do not fit into the traditional view of addiction.

Symptoms mimicking withdrawal may occur when such behaviors subside; however, withdrawal-like symptoms are not strictly an indication of an addiction, but rather of a behavioral disorder.

The reason there is such hot debate over these definitions of addiction, is that the wrong 'diagnosis' can lead to the wrong treatment to be used.

The trend today, is to acknowledge the possibility that the hypothalamus creates peptides in the brain that equal and/or exceed the effect of externally applied chemicals [alcohol, nicotine] when addictive activities take place.

We all know that when an addicted gambler or shopper is satisfying their craving, chemicals called endorphins are produced and released within the brain, reinforcing the individual's positive associations with their behavior.

As we understand more and more about how physical actions create chemical reactions, which in turn control the brain and physical response, the understanding of the effect of physical, rather than chemical addition improves.

Physical Dependency

Physical dependence on a substance is defined by the appearance of typcial withdrawal symptoms when the substance or behavior is suddenly discontinued.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are complicated pathological mental illnesses and NOT the same as addictions described in this section. Eating disorders are driven by many factors, most of which are highly different than the factors behind addictions.

Psychological Dependency

Psychological dependency is a dependency of the mind, and leads to psychological withdrawal symptoms such as cravings, irritability, insomnia, depression, anorexia etc.

Psychological dependence does not have to be limited only to substances; even activities and behavioral patterns can be considered addictions, if they are harmful, e.g. gambling, Internet use, usage of computers, sex / pornography, eating, self-harm, habitual vandalism or work.

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