Addiction

Addiction can make substance use or certain behaviours increasingly difficult to control even when they are causing harm. It develops through interacting influences that include learning, biology, life experience and environment, and it is not the same thing as simply having a strong habit, lacking willpower or becoming physically dependent.

One of the hardest things to understand about addiction is how someone can recognise that a substance or behaviour is harming them, genuinely want things to change, and still find themselves returning to it.

Addiction can gradually alter what attracts attention, what feels urgent or relieving, what is learned from repeated experiences, and how competing choices are valued in the moment. This does not mean that a person loses all agency. It means that choice can become increasingly constrained by powerful learned, biological, psychological and social influences.

Addiction is also different from physical dependence. A person can develop tolerance or withdrawal from a substance without having an addiction, while someone can experience addiction without prominent withdrawal symptoms. Understanding that distinction helps replace both moral judgement and misleading assumptions about what addiction must look like.

If substance use or behaviour is associated with an immediate danger such as suspected overdose, severe withdrawal, suicidal thoughts or violence, urgent help matters regardless of whether addiction has ever been diagnosed.

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