You know, years ago I believed that the true meaning of addiction only applied to alcohol or drugs –prescription medications or illegally obtained narcotics or “street drugs“. I could not understand that what appeared to me to just be a controllable bad habit could, in fact, be an actual addiction.
I have become enlightened to the fact that there can be addictions to:
* Sex
* Gambling
* Computer and video games
* Food
When a friend told me there was a woman in her therapy group that was a sex addict, I just about split a gut laughing. Addicted to SEX?? At my advanced age, I almost want to yawn at the mention of s-e-x (of course, Andy Garcia has not hit on me lately either).
Gambling as an addiction? HA! I seriously doubted that was a true addiction either since I’ve never had enough money (or talent) to try it. I still regret every time I spent $1 on a lottery ticket and didn’t win.
Computer and video game addictions? Again, very little interest and less skill at either of them.
OK, then there is food as an addiction. Well, food could be a problem for me. I do love to cook and I rarely finish a meal that I am not planning what I will eat for the next one. I love to eat good food. Maybe I qualify as a food addict.
I guess what I have learned is that anything you do and do compulsively or obsessively to your overall detriment, could be considered an addiction. If you can’t quit doing it, I guess you are addicted. If it is even a bad habit that you cannot break or will not break, I suppose it can become an addiction. And I guess the difference between a physical addiction and a psychological addiction doesn’t matter much if you are the truly addicted party.
If you can be considered addicted to pornography, shopping, religion, exercise and WORK, then the list must be endless. And I am quite sure on that list there must be some things that seem laughable even though this is NOT a funny topic.
If your will is no longer your own, I guess Robert Palmer wasn’t kidding at all when he sang, “…might as well face it, you’re addicted to love” …or something worse.
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