Addiction is a condition characterized by repeated, compulsive seeking and use of drugs, alcohol or other similar substances despite adverse social, mental and physical consequences. It is usually accompanied by psy­chological and physical dependence on the abused sub­stance and the appearance of withdrawal symptoms when the addictive substance is rapidly decreased or terminated.

When addiction exists, the drug use controls the individual rather than the individual controlling the usage.

Many of today's illegal drugs are extremely addictive. Some are far more addictive than common illegal drugs of the past. For example, smoked methamphetamine and crack cocaine can be addictive after very short­term use. Ecstasy, a drug often used in dance clubs, can be highly addictive for some people. A person may think they can experiment with these drugs just a few times and then find, to their surprise that they can't easily quit when they want to.

Many pharmaceutical (doctor­prescribed) drugs are also addictive; particularly ones for depression or sleep problems. They are addictive whether they are legally obtained and used properly or are obtained illegally and abused. Abusing pharmaceutical drugs usually means that a user is taking a higher­than­recommended dosage or they are using them wrongly by injecting or smoking the substance instead of taking it by mouth.

IS ADDICTION A DISEASE?

Whether a person is genetically or biochemically pre­disposed to addiction or alcoholism is a controversy that has been debated for years within the scientific, medical and chemical dependency communities. One school of thought advocates the "disease concept" which embraces the notion that addiction is an inherited disease, and that the individual is chronically ill at a genetic level, even those who experience long periods of sobriety. Another philosophy argues that addiction is a dual problem composed of a physical and mental dependency on chemicals, compounded by a pre­existing mental disorder (i.e., clinical depression, bipolar disorder or some other mental illness) and that the mental disorder needs to be treated as the primary cause of the addiction.

A third philosophy subscribes to the idea that chemical dependency leads to permanent chemical imbalances in the brain that must be treated with psychotropic medi­cations (drugs that act on the mind, altering mood or behavior) and sometimes antipsychotic medications after the person withdraws from the drug to which they are addicted.

While it is true that there is some scientific research that supports each of these concepts, it is also true that none of these theories are absolute. A review of national averages shows that addiction treatment programs based on these theories result in recovery rates of just 16% to 20%. There is a fourth school of thought that has proven to be more accurate. To understand this way of thinking, it is necessary to understand the life cycle of addiction.

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