Cognitive Behaviour Therapist
10 Harley St, London, W1G 9PF
Healix Wellbeing Centre, 3a Chase Side, Southgate, London, N14 5BP
Telephone: +44 (0) 7795 416644
AddictionsThe basics...
An addiction is a complex illness with physical and psychological symptoms, affecting not only the patient, but their family, friends and social environment too. The way to recovery is long and painful and there's always the danger of relapsing. An estimated 2 million people in the UK have an addiction, yet it remains a taboo subject
Dependence
Overall, we shouldn't view addiction or dependence in absolute terms. Dependence exists in many different ways and to a variety of degrees of intensity.
There are some people who use substances on a fairly regular basis and over a prolonged period and experience few, if any, problems as a result. For others, however, the capacity to control how often and how much is used seems to erode quickly and a more powerful state of attachment or preoccupation with taking the substance develops.
What happens next depends on the nature of the substance, how someone's using it, the problems that it may be linked with, and the various aspects of the person's psychological make-up, their personal and social relationships.
Stages of addiction
Most addictions take time to develop and almost no one deliberately sets out to become addicted to a substance. What happens is a person's consumption progresses through several stages.
Following initiation - maybe to experiment to see what the substance is like - a person may go on to use the substance again, and perhaps begin to use on an occasional then regular basis. Meanwhile, the amount that's consumed may also begin to increase. For some substances, the body rapidly becomes tolerant of a dose taken and the user will increase the amount to achieve a desired effect.
Addictions and addictive behaviours
Popular conceptions of addiction do not stop at drugs and alcohol. People can become overly attached to gambling, chocolate, computer games - even using the internet. These non-drug addictive behaviours are similar in that the person has a lack of control over their behaviour.
There are popular and professional definitions of addiction. In everyday language, we think of someone who is addicted to something as having what could be called an unhealthy habit.
