Posts Tagged Addict
The Relationship Between Addiction And Habit
Tom Horvath asked:
Let’s define addiction as repeated involvement with anything, despite excessive costs, because of craving. That sounds similar to habit, with is also repeated involvement with something. What are the differences and similarities between addiction and habit?
Let’s start with some examples of what appear to be addiction. A college freshman ends up in the emergency room after his first binge but is not repeatedly involved with alcohol (although he may soon be). A medical patient on opiates for pain control does not crave the next injection for the “high,” but simply wants pain relief. A low stakes poker player has minor losses, but the pleasure of gambling in this manner, for this individual, outweighs the cost. This last example illustrates how addiction is highly dependent of the context in which it occurs. What is a minor expense for one individual might not be for another.
Let’s also consider the definition of addiction as a disease. The “three C’s” of this definition are craving, consequences and (loss of) control. Although widely used, the craving and control aspects of this definition are inaccurate. The disease definition is all-or-none. You either are an addict/alcoholic or not. In fact there are many aspects of addiction and you could be high, medium or low on any of them. There is no clear dividing line where addiction begins. Secondly, craving is understood as uncontrollable. However, with practice craving is fully controllable. Otherwise addiction is a hopeless situation–but it’s not!
Fortunately, everyone agrees about the negative consequences of addictive behavior. The reason to change an addictive behavior is that it’s bad for you! Although you may enjoy getting high, the rest of your life is falling apart.
If the behavior in question creates more good than harm, we have a positive addiction. Positive addiction is regular involvement with a substance or activity, accompanied by a minor degree of craving, with the benefits of involvement outweighing the costs. Habit is repeated involvement when costs and benefits are about equal. Ironically, the resolution of (harmful) addiction involves the development of positive addictions.
Consider toothbrushing. If you brush regularly (and I hope you do!), but miss one a brushing, do you begin to crave the opportunity to brush? I do, and I believe many others do. The craving is not strong, but there is a sense of having missed something. As severe addictions develop, positive addictions drop out of the individual’s life (including tooth brushing!), and the restoration of these behaviors (and the development of new ones) is a crucial aspect of overcoming the addiction.
Using our definition as a guide, we can say that there is a continuum of repetitive behaviors. At one end lies harmful addiction (costs exceeding benefits), at the other lies positive addiction (benefits exceeding costs). In the middle is plain habit. All involve craving to some degree. We might also describe the continuum as consisting of bad habits, plain habits, and good habits.
The same repeated behavior could be a positive addiction, a harmful one, or a habit. Exercise or wine-drinking are two common examples. Cocaine use is another example, if we consider the coca-leaf chewing of millions of South Americans, which is akin to coffee drinking. Possibly any addictive involvement that lies at the severe end of the continuum, for some individuals, could also be found at the other end, in other individuals (although the behaviors associated with these involvements would be dramatically different).
Some involvements may in practice tend toward only one end of the continuum (e.g., toothbrushing), but what happens normally can also happen in unusual circumstances or contexts. The cost-benefit analysis of any behavior is dependent on its frequency, intensity, context, and other factors. Before we labeled something a bad habit, plain habit or good habit we would need to understand something about the individual’s entire life.
Milwaukee Lasik
Let’s define addiction as repeated involvement with anything, despite excessive costs, because of craving. That sounds similar to habit, with is also repeated involvement with something. What are the differences and similarities between addiction and habit?
Let’s start with some examples of what appear to be addiction. A college freshman ends up in the emergency room after his first binge but is not repeatedly involved with alcohol (although he may soon be). A medical patient on opiates for pain control does not crave the next injection for the “high,” but simply wants pain relief. A low stakes poker player has minor losses, but the pleasure of gambling in this manner, for this individual, outweighs the cost. This last example illustrates how addiction is highly dependent of the context in which it occurs. What is a minor expense for one individual might not be for another.
Let’s also consider the definition of addiction as a disease. The “three C’s” of this definition are craving, consequences and (loss of) control. Although widely used, the craving and control aspects of this definition are inaccurate. The disease definition is all-or-none. You either are an addict/alcoholic or not. In fact there are many aspects of addiction and you could be high, medium or low on any of them. There is no clear dividing line where addiction begins. Secondly, craving is understood as uncontrollable. However, with practice craving is fully controllable. Otherwise addiction is a hopeless situation–but it’s not!
Fortunately, everyone agrees about the negative consequences of addictive behavior. The reason to change an addictive behavior is that it’s bad for you! Although you may enjoy getting high, the rest of your life is falling apart.
If the behavior in question creates more good than harm, we have a positive addiction. Positive addiction is regular involvement with a substance or activity, accompanied by a minor degree of craving, with the benefits of involvement outweighing the costs. Habit is repeated involvement when costs and benefits are about equal. Ironically, the resolution of (harmful) addiction involves the development of positive addictions.
Consider toothbrushing. If you brush regularly (and I hope you do!), but miss one a brushing, do you begin to crave the opportunity to brush? I do, and I believe many others do. The craving is not strong, but there is a sense of having missed something. As severe addictions develop, positive addictions drop out of the individual’s life (including tooth brushing!), and the restoration of these behaviors (and the development of new ones) is a crucial aspect of overcoming the addiction.
Using our definition as a guide, we can say that there is a continuum of repetitive behaviors. At one end lies harmful addiction (costs exceeding benefits), at the other lies positive addiction (benefits exceeding costs). In the middle is plain habit. All involve craving to some degree. We might also describe the continuum as consisting of bad habits, plain habits, and good habits.
The same repeated behavior could be a positive addiction, a harmful one, or a habit. Exercise or wine-drinking are two common examples. Cocaine use is another example, if we consider the coca-leaf chewing of millions of South Americans, which is akin to coffee drinking. Possibly any addictive involvement that lies at the severe end of the continuum, for some individuals, could also be found at the other end, in other individuals (although the behaviors associated with these involvements would be dramatically different).
Some involvements may in practice tend toward only one end of the continuum (e.g., toothbrushing), but what happens normally can also happen in unusual circumstances or contexts. The cost-benefit analysis of any behavior is dependent on its frequency, intensity, context, and other factors. Before we labeled something a bad habit, plain habit or good habit we would need to understand something about the individual’s entire life.
Milwaukee Lasik
Drug Detox: A Life Changing Experience
Chonticha Marijne asked:
First of all, detox is a term used to define the process of detoxification, which is used to describe the process of removing any toxic waste from the body. Many people today use detox as a way of cleansing their colons of unwanted waste, but for many, detox is more than ridding yourself of a few extra pounds. For many, ridding the body of alcohol and drug remnants and also withdrawing from the use of such is called drug detox. Never, under any circumstances, should a person attempt to perform a drug detox without proper medical supervision.
Drug detox is the first step in a method that will involve the body’s own process of ridding itself of drug chemicals that it has grown to rely on. What most people don’t realize, is that the remnants of drugs or alcohol in a body system of an addict will produce cravings for more unless every one of those remnants is expelled from the body. It is the first and most difficult step for most recovering addicts, who won’t begin the actual recovery process until they complete the drug detox program. Hundreds of drug detox centers are scattered throughout the United States and other countries and can deal with mild to severe addictions to drugs like heroin to addictions caused by anti-depressants and pain killers such as Xanax, Darvocet and Codeine, among a wealth of others.
New medications used in many drug detox facilities enables those withdrawing from drugs of any sort to take prescribed medications to make the process easier and less uncomfortable. Some such drug detox facilities offer closely monitored withdrawal from opiate addictions with a high rate of success. Individual and group counseling is also available at a drug detox center. Staff members encourage patients to talk about their addictions, a main step in the healing process. After the drug detox process has been completed, many drug detox centers also offer drug rehabilitation counseling services as well.
The key to a successful drug detox program is to admit that there is a problem and then to make a decision to so something about it. A drug detox center can help you do just that, and is equipped to help people get off such drugs and abused medications slowly and safely. A drug detox center in hospitals or community settings includes medical and psychiatric support for patients. A good drug detox center will offer more than a room and a bed, but will offer both emotional and caring support for patients and their families. A drug detox center can help not only the person undergoing the detox process, but friends and family when it comes time to offer ongoing support after discharge. Many people are ashamed or embarrassed to admit they have a problem and refuse to go to a drug detox center. But trying to withdraw from drugs on your own is a dangerous and painful process without correct and trained medical supervision. A drug detox center can provide everything someone needs, from medications to counselors for patients. No one should go through the drug detox process alone, and a drug detox center is the best place to undergo this life changing experience.
Lasik Milwaukee
First of all, detox is a term used to define the process of detoxification, which is used to describe the process of removing any toxic waste from the body. Many people today use detox as a way of cleansing their colons of unwanted waste, but for many, detox is more than ridding yourself of a few extra pounds. For many, ridding the body of alcohol and drug remnants and also withdrawing from the use of such is called drug detox. Never, under any circumstances, should a person attempt to perform a drug detox without proper medical supervision.
Drug detox is the first step in a method that will involve the body’s own process of ridding itself of drug chemicals that it has grown to rely on. What most people don’t realize, is that the remnants of drugs or alcohol in a body system of an addict will produce cravings for more unless every one of those remnants is expelled from the body. It is the first and most difficult step for most recovering addicts, who won’t begin the actual recovery process until they complete the drug detox program. Hundreds of drug detox centers are scattered throughout the United States and other countries and can deal with mild to severe addictions to drugs like heroin to addictions caused by anti-depressants and pain killers such as Xanax, Darvocet and Codeine, among a wealth of others.
New medications used in many drug detox facilities enables those withdrawing from drugs of any sort to take prescribed medications to make the process easier and less uncomfortable. Some such drug detox facilities offer closely monitored withdrawal from opiate addictions with a high rate of success. Individual and group counseling is also available at a drug detox center. Staff members encourage patients to talk about their addictions, a main step in the healing process. After the drug detox process has been completed, many drug detox centers also offer drug rehabilitation counseling services as well.
The key to a successful drug detox program is to admit that there is a problem and then to make a decision to so something about it. A drug detox center can help you do just that, and is equipped to help people get off such drugs and abused medications slowly and safely. A drug detox center in hospitals or community settings includes medical and psychiatric support for patients. A good drug detox center will offer more than a room and a bed, but will offer both emotional and caring support for patients and their families. A drug detox center can help not only the person undergoing the detox process, but friends and family when it comes time to offer ongoing support after discharge. Many people are ashamed or embarrassed to admit they have a problem and refuse to go to a drug detox center. But trying to withdraw from drugs on your own is a dangerous and painful process without correct and trained medical supervision. A drug detox center can provide everything someone needs, from medications to counselors for patients. No one should go through the drug detox process alone, and a drug detox center is the best place to undergo this life changing experience.
Lasik Milwaukee