Is a Drug Addiction All Mental??

Drug addictions occur over time and create physical dependence (as well as some mental) because over time and repeat/heavy usage, they replace certain natural chemicals that our bodies need. That’s what makes withdrawal a literally painful process, and also what makes alcoholics/heroin/crack users crave sweets when they don’t get enough of the drug to satisfy what their bodies have become adapted to. Even caffiene is something that people can become physically addicted to and can cause headaches when we cut back our intake. It sounds like you just dabbled, and never got heavily into anything enough to become dependent on it physically. That just means that you had enough going on in life to keep you from overdoing it/seeking escape. Because too much of any one thing is always going to hurt you, physically and emotionally. Agreed, you don’t become addicted immediately after using something once. : ) Some just like it so much the first time that they don’t realize they are using the drug as a crutch, and by the time they figure it out, they’re chemically dependent.

It is both mental and hysical.

There are many routes to find ones self in a full blown addiction.
Initially it could be mental – ie self medicating to deal with grief or other strong emotions or mental illneses such as Schizohrenia or biolar {known as dual diagnosis] over a eriod of time until the body and the brain become dependent on the substance in order to function normally.
Then the individual is in an early true addiction.

Many who are genetically predisposed to addiction are just “having fun” “experimenting” etc and unknowingly find themselves fully physically neurologically and mentally addicted while others of the same age have done just as much but have not become physically dependent

Still others find themselves in a medical hospital for a serious physical injury like a car accident victim or someone whose broken their back.The doctors lace them on heavy opiates like vikadin and morphine for a long Erina while the body heals. some find themselves in a full blown addiction to pain killers by the time they are released from the hospital. Removal from painkillers once someone is addicted causes incredible pain. The brains natural pain numbers have shut down because they got used to having the ill for it.This means that everything hurts. the wind on someones skin causes incredible pain. Often in order to stop this they find themselves in rehab, abusing prescriptions or street drugs if they have no access to the other two due to finances.

there are as many reasons why someone initially finds themselves using and abusing drugs as their are people who use them. Consider yourself lucky for not becoming addicted. Others do not have the option of consuming any substance because they inevitably WILL become addicted. Often it takes people finding themselves experiencing intense withdrawals before they realize they are not like you. Their body is now different and will be forever.

The best analogy I can give you for what happens to someone when they pass use- abuse- and enter addiction.

Take a cucumber and place it in a jar of vinegar.
For a time, could be weeks, months year depending on many many things. Now if you get to it intime you can take that cucumber out of the vinegar and its still a cucumber… like you.

But given the right cucumber ,and the right length of time, that cucumber reaches a point of no return where it becomes a pickle.
This is forever. You can take it out of the vinegar now but the body and mind are forever changed. It can never undo whats done. You cannot turn that cucumber back into a pickle it is irreversible… that is the addict.

the right person – submersing their physiology in a foreign substance that permeates the body and brain – eventually they fl to addiction often without realizing it until they loss everything or try to stop and have severe withdrawals. they are now an addict physically neurologically emotionally and totally. And someone can remove themselves from the jar – ie kicking the addiction…. but they wont go back to being like you if they stop. They are forever wholly altered and must abstain from everything addictive.

Imagine the day you stop the ills surprisingly finding yourself in intense ain all over your body that would not stop vomiting green having seizure after seizure delirium…. and so much more… then you would have learned you are an addict. Same activity as you different results. Your lucky your in a lace where you can choose to do these activities and have not so far or will not ever feel the whole life consequences of facing addiction. For you it is mental. it is choice.

For an addict it is not. They are an addict like they breath oxygen they did not choose it although they may have chose the activity that got them there just like you chose yours … played Russian rulet and came out lucky. But it is however their responsibility to manage their addiction once they are aware of it.. that means kicking the addiction and total abstinence.

I hoe this cleared some things u for you.
there are some other good answers on here too

this is a good question. Ive heard it alot.

The best exlination