Addictive Diseases

Addictive diseases encompasses alcoholism, chemical dependency, eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia), gambling, sexual compulsivity, shopping, spending, work and internet. The common characteristic of all addictive diseases is loss of control. Of the addictive diseases, alcoholism is the most prevalent and is defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine as follows:

Alcohol addiction is a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychological, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations.  The disease is often progressive and fatal

This definition, although specific to alcoholism, also generally describes other addictive disorders; gambling, sexual compulsivity, eating disorders, spending, work, internet.  Substitute the other activities, i.e. “gambling”, “spending”, etc in the place of “alcohol” and you will have a general definition of the addictive cycle for these other diseases.

Each of these symptoms may be continuous or periodic.

Many times alcoholism co-exists with another addictive disorder such as gambling, sexual compulsivity or an eating disorder.  Often alcoholics will be addicted to other drugs, legal and illegal, in conjunction with their alcoholism.