PenguinWithNapalm
Bluelighter
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- Nov 8, 2025
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Addiction and physical dependence are two different things.
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BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards
Could i be addicted?
- Thread starter Mizzyarbor
- Start date
izo
Bluelighter
Id say Yes
Well id tend to agree with the words of @TheUltimateFixx - ones relationship to the drug. Going a bit further though, to differentiate from physical dependence, obviously something like an SSRI or even pain killer will establish a relationship with you, but the different in my mind is if the dependence is having net positive or net negative affects on your life.
Regarding your last question, I'd think one can hate stims but still be addicted. And if you add the physical dependence, some drugs are more physical (opioids), some more psychological (amphetamines).
Again I think it boils down to is this doing more good or harm. Which is hard to analyze. Especially when coke is whispering in your ear that you're okay and not to worry.
So the fact that @Mizzyarbor is here asking for feedback from external sources, is both good and bad. They know something may be wrong, but clearly is being manipulated by the drug into thinking it may not be that bad.
But proud of them for having the courage to ask. Great start.
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Just thought of something:
Maybe downers are more physical because they tend to "cure" problems, and maybe uppers more psychological because they simply may "add" to deficits.
So one makes you physically feel better, and one gives you the perception of improvement.
Obviously both flood your brain with feel good chemicals so that's hard enough itself to justify as "not worth it".
Maybe downers are more physical because they tend to "cure" problems, and maybe uppers more psychological because they simply may "add" to deficits.
So one makes you physically feel better, and one gives you the perception of improvement.
Obviously both flood your brain with feel good chemicals so that's hard enough itself to justify as "not worth it".
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Them Witches
Bluelighter
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- Apr 21, 2025
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Can you buy a 8'ball and do a few lines and walk away for 4 days without doing another line ? If you cannot say no to the feeling of using, then you are addicted. That is called being powerless.
How are your finances low ? Are you handling your affairs ? When you take the drug does it spiral into a all night binge ? When you use do you do stupid things ? The is called being unmanageable.
Are you acting out and operating on character defects? Do you know your character defects well or are you blind to them? This is called being unmanageable and powerless.
How are your finances low ? Are you handling your affairs ? When you take the drug does it spiral into a all night binge ? When you use do you do stupid things ? The is called being unmanageable.
Are you acting out and operating on character defects? Do you know your character defects well or are you blind to them? This is called being unmanageable and powerless.
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Them Witches
Bluelighter
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- Apr 21, 2025
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I am allergic to using against my will. I break out in felonies and misdemeanours. My bank account drains. I help people look for the items I stole from them. No item in a store is safe. I spend money on lawyers. I burn bridges left and right until I am using alone. I am constantly saying sorry without really meaning it repeating the same actions over and over. I have a 6inch stack of pawn tickets and the pawn shop detective informs the local police by making a note on my record.
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TheUltimateFixx
Bluelighter
I think it is unhelpful that language generally doesn't differentiate between physical dependence and psychological fixation, and refers to both states as 'addiction'.
Personally I only use the term addiction to mean fixation. The reason being, there are for instance patients prescribed morphine long-term, who regard it strictly as medicine / pain relief and are not looking for a high from it. These people are of course physically dependent, but they are not addicted.
On the other hand, many people are clearly addicted to substances that do not cause physical dependence; never mind the fact that there are 'process addictions' like gambling where no substance whatsoever is consumed.
So yes, I would define addiction as a mental compulsion / obsession.
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TheUltimateFixx
Bluelighter
Perceived negative or positive effects (ie do you feel your addiction is worth the cost / benefit trade-off or no), doesn't determine addiction.
The deciding factor is whether or not you think you can live without your drug of choice.
Then that's an imperfect analysis. NOBODY gets addicted to a thing they do not LIKE.
If you press struggling addicts trying to give up as to their reasons WHY, it is invariably some kind of realization of the COST. As in, the detrimental legal, social, financial, physical or mental consequences of their use.
Such individuals will frequently cite things such as, "my doctor told me to stop or I will need a liver transplant", "my wife threatened to divorce me if I carry on", "I'm about to bankrupt myself",
"I owe it to myself / my family / God / society to get clean", "I just NEED to stop" etc etc.
It is ALWAYS about what-is-gonna-happen, or
"I feel guilty", or even just "I hate the state I got myself into".
ALL of these are real reasons for giving up, but NONE of them amount to actually WANTING to give up, or actually hating the drug.
What people in this situation hate is the personal cost of their drug use. If they hated the effects of the drug itself THEY WOULD NOT KEEP TAKING IT.
Change the parameter of the question for this specific demographic (the ones who say they want to stop but apparently 'cannot' stop to their distress), and the answers change.
Every single time I re-phrased the basic 'do you want to stop' or 'why do you want to stop' with, 'if there were magically ZERO negative impacts from your use, no health risk, no persecution by the law, no social stigma, no insecure black market with inflated prices, would you still want to use', the answer was basically 'hell yeah'.
No, you absolutely DO NOT 'hate stims' if you keep on taking them.
You enjoy their effects, just not the associated consequences.
opioids are physically addictive, ie dependence-forming, correct.
But most opioid addicts use for psychological reasons. The dependency is merely a compounding factor.
Again, this consideration doesn't differentiate addiction from non-addiction. It differentiates functional (and in many cases consciously willing) addiction from dysfunctional maladapted compulsion.
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@TheUltimateFixx
You are confused about what I said. (But that doesn't make your feelings invalid).
The net gain (could be literally like an SSRI, or perceive like you say "feels good") comment was alongside the physical dependence comment, not additiction in general. I was assuming we were already talking about additiction to begin with.
And, that's not true, you can be addicted to things that no longer are pleasurable.
You are confused about what I said. (But that doesn't make your feelings invalid).
The net gain (could be literally like an SSRI, or perceive like you say "feels good") comment was alongside the physical dependence comment, not additiction in general. I was assuming we were already talking about additiction to begin with.
And, that's not true, you can be addicted to things that no longer are pleasurable.
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Id be interested to see what you come up with when putting that analytical thinking into something less arbitrary.
Them Witches
Bluelighter
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I'm sort of tired of the winters here but yeah word up @Them Witches
TheUltimateFixx
Bluelighter
I remained addicted to heroin long past the point where the cost outweighed the benefits, because I still thought that I NEEDED it somehow.
I went from 'heroin is the best thing on the planet ever' to 'I just need heroin to function'. In other words I felt I couldn't exist without it. There was no longer any 'positive' pleasure, ie the extra cherry on the cake, but what one might call 'negative' pleasure, ie the sheer relief of not suffering withdrawal.
This shift doesn't negate the fact that I actively WANTED it. The extra feel-good factor is what people generally think of as 'pleasure', but elimination of something UNpleasant can also be experienced in this way, and frequently IS.
Think of finally downing a glass of ice-cold water on a hot summer's day when you've been sweating and thirsty for hours. Think of how blissful it feels to slide into a warm bath when you've been freezing to the bone in ice-cold rain. Elimination of discomfort absolutely DOES equal a pleasurable sensation.
.. And no I am not 'confused'. I had the clearest thoughts I ever had when I realised what impulses were driving my addiction. Which is to say that even in my most fucked-up moments, the fact was I WANTED another hit, even if it only was because I felt like I physically REQUIRED another hit to not be miserable. Which acted like a reward in itself.
Heck, sometimes I even DELIBERATELY chose to suffer withdrawal symptoms for another couple hours AFTER I had already scored, just so the relief would be all the sweeter for it. I know plenty of others who do / have done the same.
Yes you're not confused, I was just not as detailed in my writing as you.
That makes perfect sense. This is why catagorizing things as addition is so difficult.
We can't quantify it, and everyone's "relationship" with it, and perception of benefits or perception pleasure, is different.
I appreciate you replying, this is what this thread needs.
TheUltimateFixx
Bluelighter
Thank you.
Very astute post @TheUltimateFixx You really summed it up pretty well.
My Dad was addicted to Alcohol and Cocaine for most of my childhood. I was born with a cleft lip and palate. My Dad would call me an "abomination" or say "even god makes mistakes". The line between humor and abuse was always blurry.
Yes, ive seen my mother get hit.
I always tell people, Heroin to me was like, after my Dad making me feel ugly, worthless and just wrong, my Mom would give me a hug, tell me she loved me and that I was the most handsome boy.
Heroin to me was like that primordial love between my mother and I. She was and still is in many ways, my shelter from the storm; the guarantee that there was love and goodness in this world.
That is what Heroin made me feel, not ugly, safe and yes, it felt like love to me.
I rememver the first time i had to seriously consider quitting. How do you tell someone to give up on the only love I their life? It is even harder when you've stolen from and worried your mother sick to the point youre sure she will not ever love you again.
That's the sobriety stuff they dont cover on Wikipedia; the PAWS, the slow coming online of your memory; things you did that yoi had to rationalize or compartmentalize to keep moving. That stuff comes back to haunt you.
Anyone who gets sober deserves a medal. However, it is a ceremony that consists of just you and maybe one or two people who really care about you. You have to be able to find true pride in yourself. This is a herculean task, like Odysseus finally making it back to Ithaca after fighting men, monsters and gods. You´re not gonna get anything from the rest of society besides ¨you just shouldn´t have done it in the first place, then you wouldn´t have this problem¨ or you might gen a totally non-sincere ¨wow, that is just so great, good for you!¨ from people. You´ve gotta be proud of yourself.
My Dad was addicted to Alcohol and Cocaine for most of my childhood. I was born with a cleft lip and palate. My Dad would call me an "abomination" or say "even god makes mistakes". The line between humor and abuse was always blurry.
Yes, ive seen my mother get hit.
I always tell people, Heroin to me was like, after my Dad making me feel ugly, worthless and just wrong, my Mom would give me a hug, tell me she loved me and that I was the most handsome boy.
Heroin to me was like that primordial love between my mother and I. She was and still is in many ways, my shelter from the storm; the guarantee that there was love and goodness in this world.
That is what Heroin made me feel, not ugly, safe and yes, it felt like love to me.
I rememver the first time i had to seriously consider quitting. How do you tell someone to give up on the only love I their life? It is even harder when you've stolen from and worried your mother sick to the point youre sure she will not ever love you again.
That's the sobriety stuff they dont cover on Wikipedia; the PAWS, the slow coming online of your memory; things you did that yoi had to rationalize or compartmentalize to keep moving. That stuff comes back to haunt you.
Anyone who gets sober deserves a medal. However, it is a ceremony that consists of just you and maybe one or two people who really care about you. You have to be able to find true pride in yourself. This is a herculean task, like Odysseus finally making it back to Ithaca after fighting men, monsters and gods. You´re not gonna get anything from the rest of society besides ¨you just shouldn´t have done it in the first place, then you wouldn´t have this problem¨ or you might gen a totally non-sincere ¨wow, that is just so great, good for you!¨ from people. You´ve gotta be proud of yourself.
TheUltimateFixx
Bluelighter
Honestly I do not think it really is.
It basically comes down to one question, 'do you think you can do without it'.
If no, then there's your answer.
Yeah but, I feel like whatever drug one is on has it's own little language that whispers shit in your ear that affect your answer.
If that's not how you feel too, then we can agree to disagree