His Addiction
Addiction is the continued use of a mood altering substance or behaviour despite adverse consequences,[1] or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors.[2]
Addiction is a persistent, compulsive dependence on a behavior or substance.
Some researchers speak of two types of addictions:
substance addictions (for example, alcoholism, drug abuse, and smoking); and
process addictions (for example, gambling, spending, shopping, eating, and sexual activity).
There is a growing recognition that many addicts are addicted to more than one substance or process.
Classic hallmarks of addiction include: impaired control over substances/behavior, preoccupation with substance/behavior, continued use despite consequences, and denial.[3]
Habits and patterns associated with addiction are typically characterized by immediate gratification (short-term reward), coupled with delayed deleterious effects (long-term costs).[4]
Physiological dependence occurs when the body has to adjust to the substance by incorporating the substance into its 'normal' functioning.[5] This state creates the conditions of tolerance and withdrawal. Tolerance is the process by which the body continually adapts to the substance and requires increasingly larger amounts to achieve the original effects. Withdrawal refers to physical and psychological symptoms people experience when reducing or discontinuing a substance the body had become dependent on. Symptoms of withdrawal generally include but are not limited to anxiety, irritability, intense cravings for the substance, nausea, hallucinations, headaches, cold sweats, and tremors.
From Wikipedia:
On August 15, 2011 the American Society of Addiction Medicine issued a public statement defining all addiction (including sex addiction) in terms of brain changes. "Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry."[17]
The following excerpts are taken from the FAQs:
"The new ASAM definition makes a departure from equating addiction with just substance dependence, by describing how addiction is also related to behaviors that are rewarding. This the first time that ASAM has taken an official position that addiction is not solely "substance dependence." This definition says that addiction is about functioning and brain circuitry and how the structure and function of the brains of persons with addiction differ from the structure and function of the brains of persons who do not have addiction. It talks about reward circuitry in the brain and related circuitry, but the emphasis is not on the external rewards that act on the reward system. Food, sexual behaviors[clarification needed] and gambling behaviors can be associated with the pathological pursuit of rewards described in this new definition of addiction."
"We all have the brain reward circuitry that makes food and sex rewarding. In fact, this is a survival mechanism. In a healthy brain, these rewards have feedback mechanisms for satiety or 'enough.' In someone with addiction, the circuitry becomes dysfunctional such that the message to the individual becomes ‘more’, which leads to the pathological pursuit of rewards and/or relief through the use of substances and behaviors. So, anyone who has addiction is vulnerable to food and sex addiction.[18]