What’s the Clinical Definition of the Word “addiction”? Can a Person Be Addicted to Food? Is the Word Overused?
Question by Stankonia: What’s the clinical definition of the word “addiction”? Can a person be addicted to food? Is the word overused?
I debated this issue with my co-workers: they think that a person can be addicted to food because there are people who constantly eat to fill a void. If that person stops eating something, they have “withdrawal” symptoms (according to one co-worker).
I am reluctant to agree with them. I think that addiction is a physical/physiological dependence on a substance. Just because a person is an over-eater, doesn’t mean that they are going through withdrawal symptoms because they are trying to “kick” the doughnut habit they are on.
However, I (like my co-workers) am not a psychologist or an addiction specialist. Therefore, I would like to hear from professionals in addiction who can give me a definition of addiction and explain how a person can be dependent on food the same way a drug user can.
Also, do you believe that the word “addicted” is over-used? Do you think that it makes people weaker than what they really are?
I agree that many people have a psychological dependence to certain things–be it food, gambling, sex, etc. However, to me, addiction is also defined by a physiolgical dependence, which would have been developed by that person’s consumption or use of the thing that makes them addicted. True, there are some people who can use drugs and not become addicted, but that is done on a recreational level. Give that person enough time and enough opportunities to do it on a regular basis and they will be addicted. The proof is in their physical withdrawal. However, with food, it is, in my opinion, more psychological.
Best answer:
Answer by annalyzedgourds
An addiction is being abnormally dependent upon something.
People are addicted to food. I have a sister who is addicted and it is real. There is even an Overeaters Anonymous group. These people view food differently and use it differently than you or I. They don’t however, go through withdrawals when they stop eating certain foods.
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