Addiction versus habit: understanding the distinction

Addiction is something that is rarely talked about. Such reticence is not surprising since most addictions generally invite social disapproval. The linkage between addictions and social disapproval is, however, unfortunate because it prevents the addict from seeking timely help in treating what is essentially a complex illness. The absence of medical and psychological treatment, in turn, often leads to serious consequences. Indeed, this chain of events is precisely what occurred in the case of a close family friend, Bob, who was addicted to alcohol.

Bob began his journey towards alcoholism when he was just a teenager. Although he had heard about the harmful effects of alcohol, he was confident that he would be able to prevent any habit from getting out of control. This confidence, coupled with the irresistible pleasure of an alcoholic high, resulted in Bob spending many an evening with his friends knocking back beer after beer. Till this point, Bob's experience with alcohol was no different from that of most adolescent males.

Soon, however, Bob began to out drink his friends to the point when he would either be in a drunken stupor or simply pass out cold. By this time, Bob had graduated to hard liquor and was clearly no longer in control of his habit. Bob's lack of control and drunken behavior finally led to his friends avoiding him. Perhaps the pain of social rejection acted as a catalyst to make Bob drink even more because the buzz of alcohol offered a way of escape from his emotional problems. Perhaps, Bob began drinking heavily in the first place to forget the pain of feeling neglected by his parents. Be that as it may, my friend Bob had become an alcoholic by the time he reached the age of twenty-one.

I finally learnt of Bob's problems with the bottle because of his close association with my family, which began when we were just kids in primary school. In fact, Bob was the proverbial kid-next-door who would be popping in and out of my house all day long. Then came a time when Bob simply stopped dropping by and all efforts to persuade him to come out and socialize failed. In fact, it was during this time that I finally made the effort to find out what was troubling Bob, only to discover the shocking truth about his craving for alcohol.

Bob's addiction had at this point in time grown to the extent that he was reaching for the bottle virtually all day long. As a result, he had been fired from several jobs. Bob's drunkenness had also caused many a friend to avoid his company. Such social rejection had, unfortunately, driven Bob to become a recluse seeking only the companionship of his bottle. Unfortunately, in Bob's case, his parents were of little help for the simple reason that they were never around to even notice that their son had developed a serious drinking problem. The combined effect of all these factors ultimately led to Bob totally withdrawing into himself and becoming just a shadow of the vibrant personality he once was.