Addiction as a Disease: Addiction is a term that has traditionally been used to refer to psychiatric syndrome that is caused by illicit drug use. Actually, addition is the only psychiatric condition whose symptoms are regarded as an illegal activity. In most cases, this term is described on the basis of drug use, which is the main focus of many research and treatment programs. Generally, drug addiction has significant negative effects

Addiction to Alcohol With alcohol addiction posing major health and social problems in the United States, and the family remaining the basic social unit, the effects of alcohol addiction by a family member on the functioning of that social unit is of paramount importance in understanding the degree to which alcohol addiction is disruptive to family life; understanding this may lead to better ways to mitigate the effects of addiction on

One researcher suggested that instead of seeking a strict operational definition, one should think of alcoholism as they do mountains and seasons: "you know these things when you see them" (Shaffer pp). The most common conceptual error made by clinicians, researchers, and social-policy makers is to think that addiction resides as a latent property of an object, such as a drug or game of chance (Shaffer pp). For example, conventional

Internet Addiction a Real Thing? Konnikova addresses the growing problem of internet addiction amongst current populations. She starts with the findings from Marc Potenza, a Yale psychiatrist. Twenty years ago, he began his career treating common addictions like substance and alcohol abuse. Then as his career continued, he noticed harder to classify addictions. He mentioned trichotillomania, and those with gambling addictions. While these second class of behaviors were not

Introduction Addiction does not have an assigned definition. This effectively means that there are various definitions to drug and alcohol addiction that have been explored in the past. For purposes of this discussion, addiction will be defined as “a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking, continued use despite harmful consequences, and long-lasting changes in the brain” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2019). In addition to evaluating the effectiveness of

Addiction: A brain disease with a biological foundation Addiction is a brain disease with a biological foundation, which means that it couples together the mental and physical states of the individual in an action which can lead to negative or bad behavior. There are many types of addictions but two of the biggest addictions in modern times are sexual addiction and drug addiction. Many young people develop both addictions or one