Headshrinkers... explain the term addiction to me...

[Cid_B]

I hear things like "sex addiction" or "gambling addiction" and the first thing I think is "bullshit."

I can buy the idea that someone is making terrible choices and continues to have sex or gamble but to me an addiction is something along the lines of "I must have this or I will die"

That brings to mind hard drugs and the like. Probably extreme alcohol use as well. If some of these folks quit cold turkey their body would shut down due to the lack of some chemical it had become accustomed to. No one is going to die from lack of blackjack or BJs.

Everything else though seems like a compulsion to me. A bad choice that they make again and again...

Gambling, sex, and most other "addicts" are all in that same boat in my mind.

So clear it up for me please... Does the psychiatric word differentiate between addiction and compulsion and is it a media thing to constantly refer to "addictions" or what?

Thanks and good night,

Cid

[Webster Green]

1. True addiction means you get physically ill without it.

Heroin, nicotine, alcohol for chronic alcoholics.

That definition excludes cannabis and cocaine, which are compelling, but not addictive.

Gambling, inappropriate weiner display etc. are certainly not addicting.

[Ian David]

2. What Causes Sexual Addiction?

What Causes Sexual Addiction?

By Michael Herkov, Ph.D

Why some people, and not others, develop an addiction to sex is poorly understood. Possibly some biochemical abnormality or other brain changes increase risk. The fact that antidepressants and other psychotropic medications have proven effective in treating some people with sex addiction suggests that this might be the case.

Studies indicate that food, abused drugs and sexual interests share a common pathway within our brains’ survival and reward systems. This pathway leads into the area of the brain responsible for our higher thinking, rational thought and judgment.

The brain tells the sex addict that having illicit sex is good the same way it tells others that food is good when they are hungry. These brain changes translate into a sex addict’s preoccupation with sex and exclusion of other interests, compulsive sexual behavior despite negative consequences and failed attempts to limit or terminate sexual behavior.

This biochemical model helps explain why competent, intelligent, goal-directed people can be so easily sidetracked by drugs and sex. The idea that, on a daily basis, a successful mother or father, doctor or businessperson can drop everything to think about sex, scheme about sex, identify sexual opportunities and take advantage of them seems unbelievable. How can this be?

More:
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/what-causes-sexual-addiction/

[catabryna]

3. I am addicted to tobacco...

I partake of other things, but am not addicted to them. Don't depend on DU to give you the answer.

[JDPriestly]

4. I am not a psychiatrist, but as I understand it, it has to do with the

stimulation of certain pleasure centers in the brain. You are thinking of actual physically addictive substances like tobacco or heroin or cocaine.

But for example, fatty foods and starches are not thought of as physically addictive, but I know lots of people who eat them not to satisfy their hunger but to gratify and excite pleasure centers in their brains that make them feel very secure. They are in a sense addicted to overeating.

So, almost anything that gives pleasure to the extent that it overwhelms the reason can be an addiction.

What is the difference between an addiction and a joyous pursuit -- control and balance. Are you able to stop doing something or do you continue to do it even when you know you should stop, when your loved ones tell you to stop? Then you need to ask why, really, are you doing it? Is it a compulsion or addiction in that you only feel any peace or happiness when you do it?

For many, gambling or even posting on Facebook can be addictions. Gambling is precisely that kind of addiction. In the sense that these addictions excite certain pleasure centers in the brain, they are very real, no question.

[originalpckelly]

5. Huh?

[Warren DeMontague]

6. It's interesting that no one has defined going to 12 step meetings compulsively as an addiction.

I've seen cases that meet just as many criteria as sex or gambling in their worst iterations.

I agree with you; whatever's happening, compulsive behavior or whatever, it's not the same animal as heroin addiction, nicotine addiction, alcohol addiction, etc.