Posts Tagged ‘sex etc’
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.