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Addiction Vs Habit

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et's define addiction as repeated involvement with anything, despite excessive costs, because of craving. That sounds similar to habit, with is also repeated involvement with something. What are the differences and similarities between addiction and habit?

Let's start with some examples of what appear to be addiction. A college freshman ends up in the emergency room after his first binge but is not repeatedly involved with alcohol (although he may soon be). A medical patient on opiates for pain control does not crave the next injection for the "high," but simply wants pain relief. A low stakes poker player has minor losses, but the pleasure of gambling in this manner, for this individual, outweighs the cost. This last example illustrates …show more content…

At one end lies harmful addiction (costs exceeding benefits), at the other lies positive addiction (benefits exceeding costs). In the middle is plain habit. All involve craving to some degree. We might also describe the continuum as consisting of bad habits, plain habits, and good habits.

The same repeated behavior could be a positive addiction, a harmful one, or a habit. Exercise or wine-drinking are two common examples. Cocaine use is another example, if we consider the coca-leaf chewing of millions of South Americans, which is akin to coffee drinking. Possibly any addictive involvement that lies at the severe end of the continuum, for some individuals, could also be found at the other end, in other individuals (although the behaviors associated with these involvements would be dramatically different).

Some involvements may in practice tend toward only one end of the continuum (e.g., toothbrushing), but what happens normally can also happen in unusual circumstances or contexts. The cost-benefit analysis of any behavior is dependent on its frequency, intensity, context, and other factors. Before we labeled something a bad habit, plain habit or good habit we would need to understand something about the individual's entire

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