An addiction is a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity. The term is often reserved for drug addictions but it is sometimes applied to other compulsions, such as problem gambling, pornography, and compulsive overeating. Factors that have been suggested as causes of addiction include genetic, biological/pharmacological and social factors.

• addiction - Terminology and usage
  • Decades ago addiction was a pharmacologic term that clearly referred to the use of a tolerance-inducing drug in sufficient quantity as to cause tolerance (the requirement that greater dosages of a given drug be used to produce an identical effect as time passes). With that definition, humans (and indeed all mammals) can become addicted to various drugs quickly. Almost at the same time, a lay definition of addiction developed. This definition referred to individuals who continued to use a given drug despite their own best interest. This latter definition is now thought of as a disease state by the medical community.
• addiction - Varied forms of addiction
  • • • addiction - Varied forms of addiction - Physical dependency
        • Physical dependence on a substance is defined by the appearance of characteristic withdrawal symptoms when the substance or behavior is suddenly discontinued. While opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, alcohol and nicotine are all well known for their ability to induce physical dependence, other categories of substances share this property and are not considered addictive: cortisone, beta-blockers and most antidepressants are examples. So, while physical dependency can be a major factor in the psychology of addiction and most often becomes a primary motivator in the continuation of an addiction, the initial primary attribute of an addictive substance is usually its ability to induce pleasure, although with continued use the goal is not so much to induce pleasure as it is to relieve the anxiety caused by the absence of a given addictive substance, causing it to become used compulsively. A notable exception to this is nicotine. Users report that a cigarette can be pleasurable, but there is a medical consensus that the user is likely fulfilling his/her physical addiction and, therefore, is achieving pleasurable feelings relative to his/her previous state of physical withdrawal. Further, the physical dependency of the nicotine addict on the substance itself becomes an overwhelming factor in the continuation of most users' addictions. Although 35 million smokers make an attempt to quit every year, fewer than 7% achieve even one year of abstinence (from the NIDA research report on nicotine addiction).
• addiction - Addiction and drug control legislation
  • Most countries have legislation which brings various drugs and drug-like substances under the control of licensing systems. Typically this legislation covers any or all of the opiates, methamphetamines, cannabinoids, cocaine, barbiturates, hallucinogens (tryptamines, LSD, phencyclidine(PCP), psilocybin) and a variety of more modern synthetic drugs, and unlicensed production, supply or possession may be a criminal offense.
• addiction - Methods of care
  • Early editions of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) described addiction as a physical dependency to a substance that resulted in withdrawal symptoms in its absence. Recent editions, including DSM-IV, have moved toward a diagnostic instrument that classifies such conditions as dependency, rather than addiction. The American Society of Addiction Medicine recommends treatment for people with chemical dependency based on patient placement criteria (currently listed in PPC-2), which attempt to match levels of care according to clinical assessments in six areas, including:
• addiction - Diverse explanations
  • Several explanations (or "models") have been presented to explain addiction. These divide, more or less, into the models which stress biological or genetic causes for addiction, and those which stress social or purely psychological causes. Of course there are also many models which attempt to see addiction as both a physiological and a psycho-social phenomenon.
• addiction - Neurobiological basis
  • The development of addiction is thought to involve a simultaneous process of 1) increased focus on and engagement in a particular behavior and 2) the attenuation or "shutting down" of other behaviors. For example, under certain experimental circumstances such as social deprivation and boredom, animals allowed the unlimited ability to self-administer certain psychoactive drugs will show such a strong preference that they will forgo food, sleep, and sex for continued access. The neuro-anatomical correlate of this is that the brain regions involved in driving goal-directed behavior grow increasingly selective for particular motivating stimuli and rewards, to the point that the brain regions involved in the inhibition of behavior can no longer effectively send "stop" signals. A good analogy is to imagine flooring the gas pedal in a car with very bad brakes. In this case, the limbic system is thought to be the major "driving force" and the orbitofrontal cortex is the substrate of the top-down inhibition.
• addiction - Criticism
  • Levi Bryant has criticized the term and concept of addiction as counterproductive in psychotherapy as it defines a patient's identity and makes it harder to become a non-addict . "The signifier 'addict' doesn't simply describe what I am, but initiates a way of relating to myself that informs how I relate to others."
• addiction - Casual addiction
  • The word addiction is also sometimes used colloquially to refer to something for which a person has a passion, such as books, chocolate, work, the web, running, or eating.
• addiction - See also
• addiction - Notes
• addiction - Further reading
  • • Lende, D. H. & Smith, E.O., (2002). Evolution meets biopsychosociality: an analysis of addictive behavior. Addiction 97: 447-458. Full text
• addiction - External links
  • • Free 12 Step videos
• addiction - Related topics