According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the definition of addiction is that it is a disease associated with mental and physiological brain function. Specifically, the brain is dysfunctional when it comes to some reward, memory and motivation areas.
The dysfunction results in someone expending great time and effort in the pursuit of a so-called reward that will relieve physical, mental or emotional symptoms.
A common addiction definition among people includes things like alcohol and drugs, but individuals can become addicted to anything. Anytime someone is incapable of abstaining from an item and exhibits impaired behavior during the pursuit of that item, they may be displaying an addiction.
Drug addiction is an obvious example. People perform illegal acts and risk their careers, relationships and lives for the relief that comes from the "reward" of drug intake. A less likely example might be chocolate or junk food. You may know it is bad for you, but you go to extreme lengths to eat it on a regular basis.
If you simply have bad will power and can beat your sweet tooth by not keeping chocolate in the house, you may not have an addiction. However, if you get in the car at 2:00 a.m. and drive to the grocery store because you simply cannot take the physical, emotional or mental symptoms, then you might be addicted to chocolate.
Overall, addiction is diagnosed by the inability to abstain from an item or behavior, inability to control behavior, intense and prolonged cravings for a substance, and the inability to recognize problems associated with addiction behavior.
How to overcome drug addiction
If you have an addiction to drugs it does not really matter how you define it all you have to know is that you want to stop using drugs and then do something about it. If you are struggling to get clean and sober I would suggest that you go to some type of substance abuse treatment there you can get all the help you need to overcome addiction.
I would start by giving a few rehabs near you a call and ask them some questions about there program then you will have a better idea of what you are getting yourself into. I mean all drug rehabs are good but you may need one that can detox you medically
