4 ms·
We already have a distinction because it’s been known for decades already that some things are addictive purely through reinforcement psychology and some things
by hnlmorg 7mo ago
We already have a distinction because it’s been known for decades already that some things are addictive purely through reinforcement psychology and some things lock people into a chemical dependence.
For example see the glossary in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_dependence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_dependence
- LorenPechtel 7mo agoAnd for some reason we only use "addiction" to describe things that are recreational in nature, not drugs that have no recreational use but can be quite dangerous to discontinue abruptly.
- hnlmorg 7mo agoI’m not a doctor but I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. Substances like caffeine, sugar, and painkillers are definitely still referred to as “addictive”. Whereas substances like sertraline (antidepressant) are referred to as a “dependence” because it’s dangerous to discontinue abruptly (as you said) but there isn’t any psychological addiction involved.
- rimunroe 7mo agoTo elaborate, I think experts usually use these terms as follows: an addiction is something where you have a continuous and difficult to resist drive to keep doing/using something due to it being inherently rewarding. A dependence is something where if you stop regularly doing/using something you’ll experience some sort of withdrawal.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]