 What is addiction? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as a "compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by ... well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal." There are physical addictions to nicotine, drugs, alcohol and caffeine,and then there are also relational addictions, involving one person or group of people who have a powerful hold on someone else’s life.
Sometimes the two types of addiction are interconnected. A nationwide household survey conducted in 2003 found that 6 million American children lived with at least one parent who abused or had an addiction to alcohol or drugs during the previous year, according to a July 2006 USA Today article. According to the article, experts say those children will have a substantially greater risk than their peers of developing an addiction to alcohol or drugs. Others may launch into the cycle of addiction by peer pressure. It’s merely a social thing - but then the all-consuming cravings return long after the drinking buddies or smoking buddies have gone home.For some, an addiction is a method of numbing pain. Some people, literally, become powerfully addicted to painkiller pills, often following surgeries or some other medical procedure during which the painkillers were legally prescribed. Others use the intoxicated feeling they have after drug or alcohol use to forget about the pains and stresses of life, whether past or present. Users may blame themselves for a series of life events, so they open the bottle or roll a joint. They start to feel worse about themselves as a result of their current actions, so they do it again to forget about it. Eventually the cycle of addiction has progressed to the point where all they think about is the next drink or the next drug. Nothing else matters ... not family, home, work, life, self-respect, self-sufficiency or safety - nothing. So addiction is degenerative, addiction is cyclical and addiction is generational.
One thing addiction is not is insurmountable, but recovery is a choice, it is a lifelong process and it is the toughest - and most rewarding - path an addict could choose. |
