Brain, Mind, Body and the Disease of Addiction
&quot;Addiction&quot; is a very tricky concept... Wikipedia defines it as &quot;compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse consequences&quot;. But what if the person engaging in the behavior doesn&#x27;t mind the adverse consequences? What if the only adverse consequence is a slight decrease in life expectancy? How bad do the consequences have to be before a behavior becomes pathological? The line we draw here seems rooted in personal values, not an objective standard.<p>What if someone uses amphetamines daily and really doesn&#x27;t want to give them up. Are they addicted? What if they later learn they have ADHD and they&#x27;ve just been self-medicating? What if they don&#x27;t have ADHD but the drug just improves their life? What if their name happens to be Paul Erdős?<p>If someone suffers depression from opiate withdrawal, we call them an addict. If someone suffers depression from going through a breakup, it&#x27;s just par for the course. And yet both scenarios are withdrawal from a pleasurable stimulus. Why is one acceptable and the other not?