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What is addiction?
Home » Smoking Cessation » Science of Addiction » What is addiction?What most people don't understand is that, like alcoholism, like cancer, or like chronic depression, addiction is a disease in its own right. Addiction, in fact, is defined as a strong emotional or psychological dependence on a drug or substance that has progressed beyond voluntary control -- beyond voluntary control.
Once you've started, once you've gained the addiction, the need for smoking is beyond your control. And, unfortunately, one addiction is often linked to another: indeed, there is a proven link between smoking at a young age and recreational drug use at an older age. One study has even suggested that people who both drink and smoke were twice as likely to use street drugs. Why? Because addiction itself is a disease. If you're addicted to cigarettes, you can just as easily become addicted to alcohol or drugs.
Fortunately, however, our society has increasingly recognized that addiction is itself a disease, and not just a sign of weakness. Once addicted, without the substance of choice, you will build a tolerance, requiring more of the substance, and if you don't have the substance, you will suffer symptoms of withdrawal, which can be as painful or uncomfortable as the symptoms of other illnesses.
Because the smoking addiction is a disease, many doctors and medical providers actually believe that medical intervention is required, and that drugs - such as nicotine replacement products or Zyban -- should be prescribed.
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