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Addict is the wrong word. He quit cold turkey after a revelation form looking in a car mirror. This is something a heroin addict or even most smokers would neve

by Gatsky 8y ago

Addict is the wrong word. He quit cold turkey after a revelation form looking in a car mirror. This is something a heroin addict or even most smokers would never say. You could replace 'smoking pot' with any number of other bad habits and not otherwise change a word of this story. Although I'm oversimplifying, there are few revelations with true physiological addiction, which is a despairingly tenacious neurological disease. Some people should just stay away from psychoactive substances. Whatever the benefits are, it isn't worth it for them. This is partly a function of what is going on in their lives, but also partly neurobiological. Unfortunately there is only one way to realise you fall into this category. Maybe one day we will be able to predict who is at risk of abusing alcohol or marijuana well enough that you can actually make an informed decision about usage patterns.

Nursie 8y ago
He quit three weeks later. Lots of people will have similar stories about tobacco. Whether it's physiologically addictive or 'merely' psychologically addictive is somewhat irrelevant - are you going to belittle gambling addiction as just a "bad habit"?
- Gatsky 8y ago
  Yes it's hard to generalise of course. But the (lack of) success of quit smoking interventions should tell you that it is different to what is described here. I don't think it is irrelevant. The point is about how to help someone. Trying to get someone with a physiological addiction to realise the error of their ways is futile, like telling someone to unbreak their leg.
  - Nursie 8y ago
    > But the (lack of) success of quit smoking interventions should tell you that it is different to what is described here. It might tell you that it is quantitively different, but not necessarily that it's qualitatively different. > Trying to get someone with a physiological addiction to realise the error of their ways is futile, like telling someone to unbreak their leg. I think your understanding of addiction is probably lacking here. Many people can and do overcome physiological addictions due to some or other realisation. Conversely many people cannot overcome addictions without a physiological component, like gambling, regardless of how much they realise the error of their ways.
    - Gatsky 8y ago
      It isn’t necessarily black and white. Gambling has a physiological component. Dopamine agonists can cause compulsive gambling in people that never cared to gamble in their lives, due to purely biochemical alterations in reward pathways. I don’t hope to define psychological addiction as you put it. The distinction to me lies between physiological addictions and other compulsive habitual behaviours. Examples of the latter include things which are clearly not addictions, eg cracking your knuckles, checking you turned off the stove 5 times. Marijuana doesn’t have a big physiological component in general. As always, some people quite happily perform behaviours habitually but are not addicted (eg some smokers).

by Gatsky 8y ago

Nursie 8y ago

He quit three weeks later. Lots of people will have similar stories about tobacco. Whether it's physiologically addictive or 'merely' psychologically addictive is somewhat irrelevant - are you going to belittle gambling addiction as just a "bad habit"?

Gatsky 8y ago
Yes it's hard to generalise of course. But the (lack of) success of quit smoking interventions should tell you that it is different to what is described here. I don't think it is irrelevant. The point is about how to help someone. Trying to get someone with a physiological addiction to realise the error of their ways is futile, like telling someone to unbreak their leg.
- Nursie 8y ago
  > But the (lack of) success of quit smoking interventions should tell you that it is different to what is described here. It might tell you that it is quantitively different, but not necessarily that it's qualitatively different. > Trying to get someone with a physiological addiction to realise the error of their ways is futile, like telling someone to unbreak their leg. I think your understanding of addiction is probably lacking here. Many people can and do overcome physiological addictions due to some or other realisation. Conversely many people cannot overcome addictions without a physiological component, like gambling, regardless of how much they realise the error of their ways.
  - Gatsky 8y ago
    It isn’t necessarily black and white. Gambling has a physiological component. Dopamine agonists can cause compulsive gambling in people that never cared to gamble in their lives, due to purely biochemical alterations in reward pathways. I don’t hope to define psychological addiction as you put it. The distinction to me lies between physiological addictions and other compulsive habitual behaviours. Examples of the latter include things which are clearly not addictions, eg cracking your knuckles, checking you turned off the stove 5 times. Marijuana doesn’t have a big physiological component in general. As always, some people quite happily perform behaviours habitually but are not addicted (eg some smokers).