Addiction and Dependence

Addiction is a word that has really come into popular use in recent years. Largely in part due to the growing epidemics of alcohol consumption and drug abuse.

Addiction is a state of being so enamoured with a certain substance or sensation that you can't stop yourself from seeking it and steadily lose your self control at least when it comes to aforementioned substance or sensation.

Addiction isn't just some vague emotional response. Contrarily it's a phenomenon rooted in science. 

Let's take the example of Cocaine one of the most well known hard drugs in modern times. Consumption of cocaine usually affects you neurologically to produce a sense of euphoria. If you take a scientific view to what the nature of happiness is, you'd realise that it's the result of a complex cocktail of hormones released due to the presence of stimuli, which in this case is the cocaine.

Excessive consumption of cocaine can cause hallucinations i.e you see things that aren't really there. It also gives the user a sudden burst of energy which could be one of the reasons why users initially begin using it.

That was the relative short term positive effects, now let's take a look at the not-so-great long term effects.

• Heart Disease
• Strokes
• Lung Damage
• Nosebleeds
• Convulsions 
• Seizures

The fun part is that cocaine has it's effects rear its head slowly, of course that is unless you overdose and kill yourself.

Cocaine isn't cheap either, it costs anywhere from 6000 to 8000 Rs PER GRAM. That's a lot of dough for a high that isn't going to last all that long and will, in the long term ensure that you have poor quality of life.

You might think then, "Ah well I'll just ration it then" .Even if you wanted to do such a thing(come on,really?), it would quickly become useless. Our body is superb at acclimatizing itself to new conditions. When it's exposed to cocaine, at first it will lose it's shit and an imbalance of hormones is created causing the aforementioned euphoria. Steadily and slowly however it will start to get used to this quantity of cocaine so, it'll build a tolerance against a lower quantity of cocaine i.e you won't get high until you use a bigger quantity.

Of course the primary characteristic of addiction, is that you feel like you have this insane itch that you have to scratch which can only be alleviated with more addictive substances. So now spending a few extra thousands doesn't seem all that bad. Just for now, you convince yourself, one last hit. This is the beginning of another negative effect of addiction, the loss of societal norms and self-control.

Also bear in mind that this increased dose of the drug causes an accelerated appearance of illness and symptom, which in turn causes the drug user to turn to the drug to provide relief. This is the cycle of dependence and this is the hardest stage to get out from.

So one might think,"It's fine. I'll go cold turkey, I won't use drugs from so and so day". This is when another effect of addictive substances kick in, withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal symptoms occur when the ingestion of the addictive substance suddenly stops, the body reacts aggressively since it has forgotten a state of itself without the drug. It can be taught again but this is extremely difficult to accomplish. This is the primary reason why drug addicts find it so difficult to quit.

Cigarettes and Alcohol are also addictive in nature but the only difference is that their negative effects are very slow(usually takes decades of steady use to cause death) depending on quantity consumed and the fact they are legalised.

There is the argument that cigarettes aren't addictive and if they were they wouldn't be sold so readily. 

I would encourage such a person to take a look at the cover of your average cigarette box.  WARNING:CONSUMPTION IS DANGEROUS TO HEALTH is written boldly in bright red and several unpleasant images of lung cancer victims are shown below.

Now if you were about to press a button and right next to it a sign said in large bold letters that if you pressed it a person would come in and stab you, would you press it? Certainly not! A sane normal person wouldn't dare to do it, unless they were addicted to the pressing of said button(okay it isn't a perfect metaphor,sue me).

Clear correlations have been shown between lung cancer and consumption of cigarettes and tobacco and yet people disregard it, isn't this disregard one of the key aspects of addiction?

Now this kind of addiction has a great deal of public awareness. Several NGOs and organisations attempt to educate and discourage addiction to drugs and tobacco. 

Something that does not get adequate coverage with regards to addiction in my opinion is the addiction to validation from your peers. 

Validation exhibits the quality of any addictive substance out there.

• Extremely Valuable
• Induces a sense of euphoria
• Lack of it causes poor temperament
• General feeling of worthlessness when not received

However here's the thing, most of us are already addicted to validation. In fact any normal human being was born into a situation where they were taught to need validation. Validation from your parents, peers, bosses etc is all seen as a sign of prestige.

In reality, this just makes us dependent on this external validation. To some degree we must accept external validation or else it's just as bad as being fully dependent validation. Simply put the line between not giving a damn and bending over backwards to please everyone is thin. To toe the line is to achieve balance.

Give some worth to yourself, give yourself some more credit, you're not as bad as you make yourself out to be, indeed once you realise on your own that you're capable of doing good and that you're capable of great things, that day you'll be free from this addiction.