Addiction – A Modern View

Any addiction that affects your social interaction with other people and your physical and mental health is the kind of addiction that can be deadly. According to Time Magazine the top forms of addiction are: alcohol abuse, drug addiction, tobacco addiction and caffeine (in coffee and cola forms).

They actually see it as something they can control if they wish to. Those who do acknowledge their addiction find it difficult to stop drinking or stop smoking or both.There are many ways to end addiction – seeking professional help, using patches or gums (in the case of smokers) or thru medical means.

There are many options on how to deal with an addiction. In most cases an individual has to have someone to help him along the way to recovery. That someone may be a relative, a friend or an officemate.

Some of those who did stopped being addicted had remained in their sober state because of willpower. There are those who successfully kicked their addictive ways did so without relying on any help, aids or medical methods. They simply did it with the power of their minds.

In olden times, addiction was seen as a character flaw, a moral weakness on the part of the individual, a mortal sin. Society then though of addicts as pariahs – to be avoided at all costs just like the Plague. Society as a whole looked down on addicts and rarely extended any help to them. Modern science has revealed, though, that addiction is a disease and should be approached as such.

Many researches and studies have indicated this even leading to one expert to proclaim that addiction is an illness of the brain. The emerging studies and discoveries are slowly turning humanity’s view on addiction in a positive way. Such a change in perception has led to more and more addicts to confront their conditions and do something about it.

Even though the debate rages on as to the cause of addiction, there is an increasing awareness on the need to address addiction as it has shown to impact beyond the individual to include his family, his work and his environment. Addiction has to be stopped before it spreads its negative consequences.