What is Addiction?

We claim to be the first digital platform for de-addiction associated mental health care. Let us tell you more about what addiction is? And why we need to be more informed about it. 

Introduction to Addiction

We understand “Addiction” as being dependent on something until we can’t live without it. This meaning holds true for most. However, in health sciences addiction is more to do with your brain than anything else. 

Dr. Pratima Murthy, Director of NIMHANS, Bangalore and the leading expert on addiction medicine in India discusses how addiction is mainly a mental illness. Also, she highlights how addiction is a dependency where each person once started as a user. 

This shows how using mind altering substances (drugs that can change mood and give a sense of heightened senses) can lead to mental illness or negative health conditions. Using substances such as alcohol, tobacco, chemical drugs, etc can lead to Substance Use Disorder or commonly known as, Addiction. 

Although addiction usually means substance use, the development of technology has given rise to behavioural addictions associated with the Internet, gaming, social media, etc. Researchers continue to desperately try and establish care of these behavioural addictions. Gambling and gaming use disorders have managed to establish themselves within behavioral addiction in health related texts. 

Now that we have understood the basics of addictions let’s discuss what it looks like. 

Addiction Or Just Another Bad Habit?

Imagine this, it’s midnight, you are in your bed ready to sleep and you can’t keep your phone down! You keep scrolling from one reel to the next, that funny and cute pet video or your favourite shopping brand. You think to yourself “ I should stop!” Yet your hands and eyes continue to stay fixed to your mobile screen. 

We have all been there. And still some of us will continue to struggle and some not. So, what is the difference between addiction and just another bad habit ?

Comparatively, addiction is more intense than a bad habit but there are other serious differences too. Firstly, a bad habit will not lead to changes in your brain’s wiring or neurochemistry (Learn more about this with this research) . Whereas addiction is known to hack the reward (pleasure experience) related parts of your brain. 

Secondly, changing a bad habit doesn’t lead to withdrawal (bodily or psychological disturbances). A substance or behavioural addiction leads to your brain body being dependent. Suddenly stopping having addictive components for dependent users can lead to withdrawal (undesirable effects). 

Most importantly, a bad habit can be changed through active effort and attention. This is usually done by either replacing good habits or reward. Unfortunately, studies point towards the need for counselling, medical consultation and healthcare admissions to avoid relapsing to addiction. 

Bad habits and addictions are clearly very different. You can find more on the following in this article here. Let’s continue learning more below. 

The Effects : Your Body & Mind On Addiction 

As we learned above, addiction can lead to your body and brain being dependent on substance or behaviour. This means changes in internal bodily functions. Alternatively, the direct effects of the substance being used can also be varying. (Miller et al., 2020)

Initially, your body experiences intoxication or what we generally refer to as the “high”. This is primarily the immediate effect of consuming substances. But, if you do not continue the consumption, the effect wears off. The human body is designed to get rid of alien and unnecessary substances. But for those who consume repeatedly at a time, it’s not the same. 

Following this, repeated and regular use leads to intense reactions in the body. With increasing use your brain gets used to experiencing the high. It signals to the body to get more of the substance through cravings. 

In severity, cravings intensify. Your body starts shaking and trembling without retaking. You feel restless, unable to sleep or focus. Most importantly, you start losing interest in other activities. All your mind shifts towards getting hold of that extra smoke/sip/dose/game.  

The Aftereffect: what happens when addiction continues uninterrupted

As discussed, if you have a regular or frequent use of an addictive substance/behavior, your body will include it in its rhythm. This mainly happens through the following changes:

1. Physical Changes include disturbed sleep, low appetite, disturbed bowel movements,bad hygiene,etc. In very frequent use (daily & multiple times), you will experience anxiety, depression, tremors and much more. 

2. Psychological changes consist of inability to find interest in activities that don’t include using. You struggle to control the amount of use and often do more of it than planned. In serious cases, one can’t stop thinking about it at the cost of life outside of it. 

3. Lifestyle changes are usually less interesting and reduce time spent with others (who don’t use or participate in the behaviour). Additionally, your work, grades and overall energy suffers without the addictive use. 

Conclusion 

All in all, addiction is not just another bad habit. There are complex direct and indirect harmful influences of regular consumption across your health and lifestyle. So, how do we deal with it?

Essentially, if you think you are moving towards regular use or if you are already there, consider getting help from our clinic. You could get an answer to a question or multiple sessions. The Help Clinic was created to spread awareness and educate others on addiction. Hope we can help! 

References:

Bajaj, S. (n.d.). Mind Matters 05 | In Conversation With Dr Pratima Murthy & Vidur Parashar. YouTube. https://youtu.be/GIYskPOq2DE?si=SfAf_pWNx76RI2Tv 

Miller, M., Kiverstein, J., & Rietveld, E. (2020). Embodying addiction: A predictive processing account. Brain and Cognition, 138(0278), 105495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2019.105495 

Murthy, P., Manjunatha, N., Subodh, B., Chand, P., & Benegal, V. (2010). Substance use and addiction research in India. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 52(7), 189. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.69232 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2025, January 30). Drug misuse and addiction. National Institutes of Health. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drug-misuse-addiction 

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