What is Addiction and are You Addicted?

The exact definition of addiction is still the subject of much debate, but one medical dictionarydefinition gives us a good starting point:

Addiction is a persistent, compulsive dependence on a behavior or substance

Addiction is generally split into two categories: substance dependence and behavioural dependence.

Substance Dependence

Although addictions to alcohol, nicotine and illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana are most often talked about, there are many other substances which can lead to addiction. Solvents, prescription pain killers, caffeine, sugar, salt and even chocolate can all be culprits. At base, foods, drinks and other substances that have a mood altering physiological effect, stimulating different areas of the brain.

When the effect wears off, we can feel a craving as the stimulated areas of the brain return to normal. With continued use, the stimulated synapses become stronger, leading to the sense that the stimulated state is more normal than the original unaltered one. At this point, the user can be said to have built up a tolerance, or a need for a substance simply to feel normal, and larger doses are required to induce the original effect of the drug. This creates a habit of use that becomes a dependency when a lack of the craved substance leads to withdrawal symptoms. At this point an addiction has occurred.

It’s a simplistic explanation, and one still subject to scientific study, however many scientists now consider addiction a brain disease, “caused by persistent changes in brain structure and function.”

Behavioural Dependence

Just as substances have mood altering effects, so do certain behaviours and activities. Exercise, shopping, sex and gambling are just a few examples of activities that predictably release various chemicals in the brain: adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine being the most obvious.

And so we have the “runner’s high,” the “sex addict,” the “shopaholic” and the “adrenaline junkie,” all just as hopelessly enslaved to the chemical brain cycles as their drug dependant counterpart.

Of course, for most of us, other people’s dependencies only become and issue when they lead to antisocial or criminal behaviours, or threaten the lives of those close to us, and we may be oblivious to the signs of our own addictions.

Recognising an Addiction

So how can we tell if a behaviour or substance is threatening to, or already become and addiction in our lives? Diagnosis of addiction is based on certain criteria. Answer the following questions honestly to determine whether you may have an addiction problem. 

• loss of willpower – Are you beginning to feel helpless or out of control? Do you find yourself unable to say “no?”
  Whether that’s eating when you’re not hungry, or taking every cigarette or drink on offer despite your best intentions. If you find yourself easily persuaded or actively seeking out the substance or experience causing you problems, you may have an addiction.

• harmful consequences - Have you put yourself in danger in pursuit of or as a result of your habit? Are you getting into debt, or lying about it?
  Whilst some substances such as solvents or heroin can be immediately fatal, others are less obviously harmful. Also, it’s tempting to think of harm in terms of health issues alone, but many addictions have cost implications. If you’re spending money your can’t afford, or gambling yourself into debt, the consequences can be just as dire. And the consequences may not only be harmful to you, but your nearest and dearest as well.

• unmanageable lifestyle – Have your friends, relatives or others tried to talk to you about your dependancy? Are you in debt? Losing friends? In trouble at school/work/with the law?
  If those around you are concerned enough to raise the issue, the chances are you have a real problem. What you may see as nagging, nosiness or trouble causing is probably a genuine attempt at intervention. If your routine has changed as a result of your habits, and you find yourself increasingly arranging your life around it, the chances are you are addicted.

• tolerance or escalation of use – Do you find yourself needing to do or use more in order to get the same effect? Are the gaps between your “fixes” getting shorter and shorter?
  If you “feel wrong” when you don’t do something, or don’t use a substance, and no longer get the high you used to when you do, or have to do more of it to get any good feelings, you have developed a tolerance. In order to counteract the tolerance, you do or use more, to get the original high feeling. The problem is this increased use leads to increased tolerance, which is why enough is never enough for long. 

• withdrawal symptoms upon quitting – Do you feel bad if you can’t fulfil your habit? Do you have physical or mental withdrawal symptoms that impact on other areas of your life?
  If you can’t function without this substance or behaviour, despite it’s negative impact on your life, you have an addiction, and you need to seek professional help.