What is Addiction?

Your typical classroom at Marin Academy has desks, chairs, bookshelves, and whiteboard space scattered around the room, making them seem crowded and small. Sarah’s office stands contrary to a typical MA classroom. Two small chairs, a desk, couch, and a faint light by the window fills the room with a calming aurora. I felt a sense of comfort fall over me upon entering the room, easing the anxiety I had anticipating our conversation to come. Addiction is a difficult topic to talk about, but soon after beginning the interview, I realized that Sarah could not have been a more perfect candidate to discuss this issue with.

“I think of addiction as dependence, and dependence can mean a lot of different things. But I think when you start to change areas of your life or change your behavior or change something to get this thing to do this thing because it feels like you can’t get through the day without it… There’s a lot of different things people can become addicted to.”

Dependence.

What makes one dependent. Are certain addictions more impactful than others? Are there different types of addictions?

“I mean, some people talk about how some kinds of addictions could be more positive than others. Like for example, if your someone who is a very healthy eater…“

Healthy eater.

Could someone become addicted to being a healthy eater? I understand maintaining physical well-being, but could one really become dependent on healthy eating? What’s rewarding about something like that?

“I think it makes you feel good. It brings some order and control. If, for some things, it brings order and control, for other things, its a complete break in your life. Like a way of escaping.”

Escaping.

I’ve often found personally that something I spend a lot of time questioning is how I define escape. A place to let your mind forget about all the tasks and worries you may have, making you feel happy and satisfied. Addiction isn’t all that bad it seems, healthy eating and an escape from reality. But then why is it so hard to talk about? Why are we afraid to address the stigmas around addiction?

“I think that we think really negatively about a person who has an addiction to something, specifically drugs, and alcohol, but even if you think about someone who was addicted to food and is really overweight or obese, as a society we see that as gross or disgusting or that they have a problem. But the thing about addiction is that it’s more of a disease than a condition.”

Disease.

Just like a common cold or illness that comes unwantedly and is hard to shake off, addiction comes with strong tethers that are hard to break.

“We become dependent on all these things, especially ones like drugs and alcohol, which have addictive qualities by nature, and we think that the person is the problem. For example, if a child had cancer, people would surround the family with food, love, and support. However, if the same family had a child who was an addict, I think a lot of people would stay away or distance themselves.”

Interesting.

If addiction of that magnitude is so frowned upon in society, why aren’t we talking about addiction more? What do we need to do to stop addiction and acknowledge its impact?

“I think what you’re doing is really important that there are lots of different kinds of addictions and it’s not just drugs and alcohol or eating whatever. And some of them we think as healthier than others, but are they really that healthy?”

Awareness.

Talking about addiction brings light on the situation, and educates others on the importance of understanding the full situation; that addiction is not a choice or a path anyone wants or chooses to take. Another problem is Sarah’s question, “but are they really that healthy?” An addiction to going to the gym and working out every day may make you think you are improving your physical well-being, but in reality, you could be slowly deteriorating your body and wasting it away for your older years. But what makes addiction sprout its roots into somebody, and is being predisposed to addiction really that powerful of a seed?

“When I was in graduate school, I worked at an outpatient substance abuse clinic in New York. So these were people who, most of them were coming out of residential programs for drugs and alcohol and were trying to stabilize their lives, many of whom had what’s called a co-occurring mental health disorder…”

A co-occurring mental health disorder.

This means that at the same time as having a mental health disorder, these people would also have a substance abuse disorder on top of it. So, anyone with a mental health disorder is at threat of worsening their mental health when using substances, exponentially increasing their chances of addiction.

“… And you’ll find that many people who are struggling with addiction, also have some kind of mental health illness as well. They’re very connected.”

Connected.

So if addiction is not only more likely in those predisposed to it, but also more likely in those who have a mental health disorder and or a substance use disorder, then addiction is exactly like a disease. If you wash your hands often and take medicine when needed, then you’re able to prevent disease more easily than normal. However, if you don’t take these precautions, and on top of it have a naturally weaker immune system (something not in your control just like being predisposed to addiction), then you’re more likely to get an illness or disease. It makes perfect sense, except for one thing.

“An addiction cannot be stopped nor destroyed, but only replaced by another addiction.”

Addiction.

“I don’t believe that you have to replace an addiction with another addiction. But, I think that addiction, obviously as we talked about, is so consuming that often you need to fill your life with something else in order to create some distance.”

Distance.

“Like a lot of people who have been drug addicts start smoking cigarettes because it is the lesser of two evils, even though it’s not true. But, it’s like they started smoking cigarettes because cigarettes are legal, and they can get that, and it’s not heroin or all those things.”

Lesser of two evils.

“I’m not sure if I agree with it, but I can see why someone who is an addict of whatever sort would find someone/something else to become addicted to, sort of to target that addictive personality.”

So, Sarah may not agree that addiction must be countered with another addiction, but, she explained why one would with extreme clarity.

Addiction is dependence. It makes being a healthy eater unhealthy, an escape from a trap, and a hobby a disease. Addiction is interesting, as awareness around the topic is scarce, even when it directly relates to another pressing issue, like a co-occurring mental health disorder. Addiction is connected, its roots reach far all across the spectrum, distancing people apart for no reason, and inflicting evils upon families and communities.

This is addiction.