What Is the Definition of Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction is an insidious and pervasive condition which causes considerable damage to those who suffer from it. The specifics depend on the kind of drug being taken, but all forms of addiction are dangerous and many can result in death if steps aren't taken to overcome them. The term "drug addiction" is often tossed about on the assumption that everyone knows what it is. The particulars of drug addiction can get lost in that assumption, however, unless one understands exactly how the term is defined.

Basics

• An addiction is defined as a dependence upon a particular substance in order to function. In the clinical sense of the term, the addiction must be harmful to the overall health of the addict. Though popular vernacular uses "addiction" to describe any kind of obsession or interest, it should not be strictly defined as such if it's not harmful. For instance, one cannot be "addicted" to cheesecake or to the Los Angeles Dodgers, because such "addictions" don't directly cause physical harm. Furthermore, while we are all "addicted" to oxygen, it can't be classified as such because oxygen is healthful and necessary to survive.

Drug Addiction

• Most people start taking drugs as a way to have fun, or alter their perceptions or try a new experience. That doesn't fit the criteria for addiction, at least initially. The barrier is broken when the drug becomes the central focus of the user's life: when taking the drug is the only thing he lives for. There are two distinct types of drug addition: physical and psychological. Some drugs create one type of addiction and some create both. Individual drugs are different enough so that the specific manifestation of addiction varies.

Physical Addiction

• Physical addiction entails an actual change in the addict's body, whereby it requires the drug to function. In some cases, the pathways of the brain are rewritten, altering how the mind functions. Another common sign of physical addiction is tolerance, whereby the body requires greater and greater amounts of the drug in order to achieve the same feelings. Ceasing use of the drug in the case of a physical addiction often results in withdrawal symptoms such as shaking, vomiting or seizures may take place.

Psychological Addiction

• Even if they don't create a physical addiction, most drugs create a psychological addiction in their users. A psychological addiction is a mental craving for the drug and the feelings associated with it. That desire is distinct from physical addiction in that there are rarely any withdrawal symptoms if the addict doesn't get his drug of choice. But the overwhelming obsession for the drug can be just as devastating as physical addiction and often proves equally distressing to the addict.

Effects of Addiction

• Drug addicts feel forced into taking their drug by their addiction: they simply don't have a choice. In accordance with that, they may do any number of morally reprehensible things in the service of the next fix: lie to family members, steal money, even engage in armed robbery or prostitution. Previous hobbies or passions fall by the wayside, as more and more time is spent in pursuit of the drug, and home and work life may suffer drastically as well.