Thursday, December 5th, 2024

What is Addiction?

April 16, 2013 by  
Filed under Addiction

What is addiction?

Addiction is best defined when a drug user cannot stop taking a drug even they want to, no matter how hard they want to. This is called addiction. The urge or craving is too strong to control that even if a drug user knows it is causing them harm they cannot stop using. Addiction is also defined as the continued use of drugs and alcohol regardless of negative consequences to health, job, school, and relationships. Addictions are not just to drugs but can be to anything including exercise, sex, gambling, eating, food, and shopping.

When someone starts taking drugs they don’t make a plan to get addicted. The reason drug users take drugs and drinkers drink is because they like the way drugs and alcohol make them feel. They think that they can control how much and how often they take drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, drug use and drinking changes the brain so that drug users start to need the drug or drink just to feel normal. That is when addiction happens and it can quickly spiral out of control.

Addiction can become more important than the need to eat or sleep. For parents the addiction is more important than their children, for students it’s more important than school, for couples it’s more important than their spouse, it’s more important than showering, it’s more important than doing laundry, than paying bills and slowly but surely the addiction becomes more important than living. The addiction replaces all the things the person used to enjoy. A person in their addiction will do almost anything to get their drugs and drink. They will lie, steal, cheat, and hurt people who matter to them most to keep taking the drug. It may seem like with all these negative consequences that someone with an addiction would just quit the drug use and drinking but it isn’t as easy as that and here is why:

Addiction is a brain disease. Addiction is chronic, progressive and fatal. The reason for this is because drugs change how the brain works and those changes can last a long time, even forever. The changes in the brain due to an addiction cause problems such as mood swings, memory loss, and even trouble thinking and making decisions. Addiction is a disease just like diabetes and cancer are diseases. Addiction is not a moral failing or a weakness. Addiction also can affect anyone. Addiction is inside of people from all backgrounds, rich and poor, young and old, black and white. Addiction can happen at any age but it does usually happen when a person is young.

Want to know if you have an addiction?

An addiction must meet at least 3 of the following criteria.

This is based on the criteria of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) and World Health Organization (ICD-10).(1)

1. Tolerance. Do you use more alcohol or drugs over time?

2. Withdrawal. Have you experienced physical or emotional withdrawal when you have stopped using? Have you experienced anxiety, irritability, shakes, sweats, nausea, or vomiting? Emotional withdrawal is just as significant as physical withdrawal.

3. Limited Control. Do you sometimes drink or use drugs more than you would like? Do you sometimes drink to get drunk? Does one drink lead to more drinks sometimes?

4. Negative Consequences. Have you continued to use even though there have been negative consequences to your mood, self-esteem, health, job, or family?

5. Neglected or Postponed Activities. Have you ever put off or reduced social, recreational, work or household activities because of your use?

6. Significant Time or Energy Spent. Have you spent a significant amount of time obtaining, using, concealing, planning, or recovering from your use? Have you spend a lot of time thinking about using? Have you ever concealed or minimized your use? Have you ever thought of schemes to avoid getting caught?

7. Desire to cut down. Have you sometimes thought about cutting down or controlling your use? Have you ever made unsuccessful attempts to cut down or control your use?

Source:

http://www.addictionsandrecovery.org/what-is-addiction.html

 

189 responses to “What is Addiction?”

  1. friv 1 says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|There you will find 83709 more Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  2. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 82021 additional Infos|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  3. My Homepage says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  4. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Find More Informations here|Here you will find 93672 more Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  5. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Infos here|There you can find 11950 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  6. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you can find 45029 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  7. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you can find 47622 additional Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  8. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Informations here|There you will find 54263 more Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  9. Bdsm chat says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Informations here|Here you can find 4751 more Informations|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  10. iraqi law111 says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|There you will find 96543 additional Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  11. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Infos here|There you can find 56004 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  12. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|Here you can find 62190 more Informations|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  13. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Infos here|There you will find 88078 more Infos|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  14. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Informations here|There you will find 50102 more Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  15. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|There you can find 50556 more Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  16. 먹튀검증 says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|There you will find 24866 more Informations|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  17. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you will find 10796 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  18. green coffee says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|Here you can find 99701 additional Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  19. freemoviesz says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Infos here|Here you can find 55012 additional Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  20. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you will find 64722 more Infos|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  21. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you will find 25544 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  22. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Read More Informations here|There you will find 91405 additional Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  23. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 85496 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  24. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you will find 44358 more Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  25. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Find More Infos here|There you will find 91434 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  26. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you will find 19234 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  27. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Infos here|Here you will find 49175 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  28. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Read More Infos here|There you can find 6384 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  29. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|Here you can find 724 more Informations|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  30. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Read More Informations here|Here you will find 7604 additional Informations|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  31. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you can find 83834 additional Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  32. payday loans says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|There you can find 83855 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  33. hoverboard says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you can find 3503 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  34. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Find More Informations here|Here you can find 15753 more Informations|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  35. Hovedpine says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 6020 additional Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  36. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Infos here|Here you can find 25257 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  37. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you can find 683 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  38. sciences says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Infos here|Here you will find 56654 additional Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  39. Simonovic says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Informations here|There you will find 29424 more Informations|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  40. visit us says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Infos here|There you can find 95102 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  41. iPhone usati says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Informations here|Here you will find 59546 additional Informations|Infos on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  42. go here says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Informations here|Here you will find 37156 more Informations|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  43. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|Here you will find 37275 more Informations|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  44. buy steroids says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you will find 49355 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  45. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you can find 21380 additional Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  46. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 43500 more Infos|Informations to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  47. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Read More Infos here|There you can find 41991 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  48. w88Yes.Ga

    What is Addiction? | Drug Alcohol

  49. relationship Seems

    What is Addiction? | Drug Alcohol

  50. Relationship Help Forums

    What is Addiction? | Drug Alcohol

  51. self help groups ppt

    What is Addiction? | Drug Alcohol

  52. personal life Coaching for women

    What is Addiction? | Drug Alcohol

  53. Partner to love

    What is Addiction? | Drug Alcohol

  54. safest cars says:

    Ford motor company

    What is Addiction? | Drug Alcohol

  55. best self improvement Books for Women

    What is Addiction? | Drug Alcohol

  56. i Want luv

    What is Addiction? : Drug Alcohol

  57. website says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Find More Infos here|Here you will find 64807 additional Infos|Informations on that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  58. website says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Read More Informations here|Here you can find 31432 additional Informations|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  59. voir Films says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you will find 25456 additional Infos|Infos to that Topic: drug-alcohol.com/what-is-addiction/ […]

  60. Healthy Intimate Relationship

    What is Addiction? : Drug Alcohol

  61. Love Back

    What is Addiction? : Drug Alcohol

  62. Personal Beliefs

    What is Addiction? : Drug Alcohol

  63. love issues says:

    bad Dating advice

    What is Addiction? : Drug Alcohol

  64. get ex back says:

    Dating Advice

    What is Addiction? : Drug Alcohol

  65. make him c says:

    Dating Advice For Women

    What is Addiction? : Drug Alcohol

  66. life changes says:

    Interesting life coaching

    What is Addiction? : Drug Alcohol

  67. free women says:

    dating sites for mature singles adults https://zonlinedating.com/

  68. itsmasum.com says:

    itsmasum.com

    […]one of our guests not too long ago proposed the following website[…]

  69. اول جامعة يمنية تدخل تصنيف التايمز

    […]the time to read or pay a visit to the subject material or web sites we’ve linked to beneath the[…]

  70. Kuliah Mudah says:

    Kuliah Mudah

    […]although sites we backlink to below are considerably not connected to ours, we feel they are really worth a go through, so possess a look[…]

  71. 918kiss says:

    918kiss

    […]just beneath, are a lot of totally not connected websites to ours, nevertheless, they may be surely worth going over[…]

  72. pg slot says:

    pg slot

    […]one of our guests recently recommended the following website[…]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

*