Some of us spend our entire lives chasing an elusive feel-good sensation, whether it comes from drinking, smoking, taking drugs, spending too fast and freely, or overeating. Teachers, lawyers, doctors, students, homemakers, athletes, young and old, rich and poor, it makes no difference who you are or where you live. Anyone can become dependent. Alcohol dependency is by far the most common addiction, but certainly not the only one.
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It is widely understood that about 1 in 10 people have the disease of alcoholism. That 10% of the population includes all races, creeds, ages, sexes, religions, and all other factors. Alcoholism does not discriminate any of these; it simple exists when the individual has the threefold illness.
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When addiction grips a person, they become cocooned in their own existence, The outside world becomes alien, so they disassociate themselves from it, even their family.
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Compulsive shopping is finally coming out of the closet. First described by Bleuler in 1915 and then Kraepelin in 1924 (they labeled it oneomania from the Greek oneomai, to buy, and included it among other pathological and reactive impulses), it went largely ignored for the next sixty years. Read for more.
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Using a drug to treat addiction may seem ironic, but doctors say it can work. How? The drug blocks the brain receptor that may associate reward benefits with drinking. There are other drugs to help with alcohol addiction, but they have to be taken daily, and often with pretty harsh side effects like sweating, vomiting, and rapid heart beat.
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Although the idea of an online video game addiction may sound like a stretch to some, consider those addicted to gambling. Some have gone as far as to wear diapers to casinos in order to keep playing longer. College funds gambled away and broken families are very real results of a gambling addiction, a behaviour some experts say is being rivaled by gaming addictions.
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A big problem for many smokers trying to quit is handling the craving for nicotine. Nicotine increases the levels of chemicals in the brain that regulate mood, attention and memory, making it far more difficult to avoid a craving than many people might think. Smokefree.gov, an online resource designed to help those trying to quit, offers the following tips when trying to quit.
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The distinction between physical dependence and addiction is separated using the term physical dependence for a narrower, older definition and the new definition of addiction. Physical dependence is mostly described as a simple cellular adaption of a substance to the body. It especially concen- trates on the neurons as the communication center and the chemical which the brain is influenced by. Read on for more.
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