What is addiction?

Are you confused about what addiction is and what it isn’t?

If the answer is yes, know that there is good reason for that!

The Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the manual that is used by health professionals as a guide to diagnose mental health ‘disorders’.

The terms ‘personality disorder; alcoholism and drug dependence; substance dependence and substance abuse have all been used over time in this manual to describe varying subtleties of behaviours that, in an effort to alleviate pain and suffering, have caused pain and suffering.

This has resulted in a persistent confusion surrounding the understanding of addiction, perpetuating the stigma that is so often associated with it.

In my opinion this, ironically, means that it is a condition which is often under-diagnosed.

By 2013 all of these previous definitions were abandoned and exchanged for ‘substance use disorder’ with categories of ‘mild, moderate and severe.’

No wonder there is so much uncertainty surrounding addiction.

Also, these labels only deal with substance addictions and not what are known as ‘process’ addictions such as sex, work, social media or gambling.

Furthermore, there is clearly a cultural influence on what may be considered as ‘mild, moderate or severe’.

So where does this leave us?

My definition of addiction is any behaviour that gives you temporary relief, temporary pleasure, but in the long term causes harm, has some negative consequences and you can't give it up, despite those negative consequences. And from that perspective, you can understand that there are many, many addictions.

Dr. Gabor Maté

Whilst Dr. Gabor Maté’s definition offers a pragmatic summary, I find this model suggested by Professor Mark Griffiths the most helpful when understanding addictive behaviour because it offers a more tangible view of what we are dealing with.