The Nature of Addiction

An addiction is a habitual impulse to engage in a specific activity despite consequences to the individual's health, mental state or social life. Usually when we hear the word "addiction," we tend to associate it with drug or alcohol abuse. However, an addiction can vary as wide as from being addicted to sex to being addicted to food. Perhaps we can call anything far and in between "obsessions." Perhaps being addicted and being obsessed are on par with each other.

I suppose an addiction to drugs, for example, is more of a physical need for a specific drug in order to maintain a high or steer clear from an uncomfortable crash. I see obsession as more of a mental high...like if I were to take all of my sister's books away from her she would be itching like crazy for me to give them back to her. She literally goes nuts when she can't sit down with a book every single day. Isn't that the same deal with a smoker? They think they need that one cigarette to survive. Sure they crave the nicotine, but what about the habit of holding that little cancer stick between your lips while you drive just to have something to do?

This may be coming off a little scattered, but I do have a point here. I'm trying not to confuse addiction with obsession, but they seem to share a fine line. I know that if you see a doctor or psychiatrist for an addiction, they will say you have a disease. I guess we all have a disease then.

I could say that I'm addicted to several things that maybe aren't listed in the doctor's big book of addictions. Addiction...habit, compulsion, need, obsession, dependence, craving, infatuation, passion... these are all synonyms for the word, and I guess we can all neatly fall into one of the above, which basically all means the same damn thing. ADDICT.