What is difference between addiction and dependence?
The difference between dependence and addiction In traditional diagnoses, ‘addiction’ generally referred to a person’s physical reliance on alcohol, drugs, and others substances and behaviors, while ‘dependence’ was viewed more as the psychological reliance on the addictive behavior. It’s a scenario that pits addiction versus abuse or addiction versus dependence. But increasingly in recent years, that view has flip-flopped a bit.
Today, medical experts refer to ‘dependence’ usually around a person’s constant drug and alcohol abuse. Conversely, chronically addictive behaviors like compulsive sex, constant gambling, and even non-stop Internet usage can be seen as an ‘addiction.’
The World Health Organization uses a definition of ‘dependence’ that describes a collection of different characteristics that grow to become a much higher priority in a person’s life than other previous behaviors that were more important at one time. Consider the case of an emerging marijuana smoker or pill-taker. At first, starting this behavior is an extra activity, but as the user becomes more dependent on the high, it can turn into the main activity. This is where dependency can turn into full-blown addiction—when the substance abuse becomes the all-encompassing main priority.
In traditional diagnoses, ‘addiction’ generally referred to a person’s physical reliance on alcohol, drugs, and others substances and behaviors, while ‘dependence’ was viewed more as the psychological reliance on the addictive behavior. It’s a scenario that pits addiction versus abuse or addiction versus dependence. But increasingly in recent years, that view has flip-flopped a bit.
Today, medical experts refer to ‘dependence’ usually around a person’s constant drug and alcohol abuse. Conversely, chronically addictive behaviors like compulsive sex, constant gambling, and even non-stop Internet usage can be seen as an ‘addiction.’
The World Health Organization uses a definition of ‘dependence’ that describes a collection of different characteristics that grow to become a much higher priority in a person’s life than other previous behaviors that were more important at one time. Consider the case of an emerging marijuana smoker or pill-taker. At first, starting this behavior is an extra activity, but as the user becomes more dependent on the high, it can turn into the main activity. This is where dependency can turn into full-blown addiction—when the substance abuse becomes the all-encompassing main priority.
