We all like a drink every now and then, and some of us may make occasional use of recreational drugs, or play the odd game of cards. We all have our vices, and if we enjoy them in moderation they don't have to be too much of a problem.
But how can you tell when an occasional indulgence is getting out of hand? Or, not to mince words, how can you tell when you've started down the slippery slope to addiction?
It's tricky, but it is possible to identify red flags — in ourselves and in others — that suggest we're storing up problems for the future. It's actually estimated that three in 10 adults drink enough alcohol to put them at risk of developing alcoholism and more men die of drinking than women. In other words, addiction is a very real possibility for many of us. Knowing the signs, and our own susceptibility, could help us stop addiction before it grabs us by the throat.
Is there an 'addictive personality'?
Addiction has been described as "the continued involvement with a substance or activity despite the negative consequences associated with it." But of course, some people can drink, gamble or shop and never suffer any negative consequences. They never reach the point where they have to do more and more of something just to get the same level of fleeting satisfaction. They may develop a habit, but never an addiction.
Which begs a fundamental question. Why do some people become addicted when others don't? Can a susceptibility to addiction be hardwired into our DNA? "In a word, yes," says Adrianna Irvine, a psychotherapist who focuses on addiction. "It not only can be, it is."
For example, says Irvine, "children of alcoholic parents are four times more likely to become alcoholics than other children". It's estimated that between 40 and 60% of our vulnerability to addiction is genetic. But it's not quite as simple as that. Genetic vulnerability can, "skip a generation, it can move latterally (from an uncle or aunt, cousin etc), and of course there are other, possibly more potent, factors involved before you have a 'full-blown addict' on your hands," she adds.
Susceptibility in itself is not a guarantee of anything. Issues of self-esteem and self-interest, and problems with setting boundaries, are also likely to be present if someone is to become an addict. "It's not just our genetic predisposition, it's also our childhood, families and experiences that all go into the mix," says Irvine.
Are addicts just weak?
But if you're slumping into work with a hangover every morning, or you're gambling so much that you're having trouble paying the rent, surely you can see the damaging consequences of your actions and just stop? Again, addiction is considerably more complex than that. Addiction doesn't develop in the bit of brain — the frontal cortex — where morality, judgment and reasoning occur. According to Irvine, "addiction and its processes take place in the bit of the brain we share with animals!"
"It's in the unconscious where the drives to survive are held," she says. "This bit doesn't think, or make choices or understand consequences, it handles the next few seconds, to get us from moment to moment."
That's why addiction is so difficult to correct once it's got you. It activates some of our most basic, primal urges, in a part of the brain that favours instinct over rational thinking. And that's why by far the best option is to identify the red flags of addiction early and stop it before it takes hold.
What are the signs?
But is someone with a predisposition to addiction, and who has just discovered the delights of online poker, really in a position to see the signs of a slide into dependence? Yes, if he's prepared to take a step back and analyse his behaviour.
"We DO know when we are over-riding our own sense of what 'enough' is — we know when we are 'acting out' — we know when we should or could stop and don't," says Adrianna Irvine. Quite simply, to gauge your own behaviour, imagine how you'd feel if you got caught in the act (by a partner, relative, colleague or boss, for instance)? If there's guilt or shame there, you may need to consider what's behind it.
But you may have put systems in place to make sure you don't get caught. Doing things in secret is also a warning sign, along with lying to cover your tracks and starting to avoid situations — a night out drinking with friends, say — where the extent of your problem might be revealed. In a nutshell, is your normal behaviour being affected? Have you started being late a little too often, do you spend ages procrastinating over easy decisions, or are you having trouble focusing on the task in hand?
"None of those as a one-off amount to a hill of beans but a few or all begin to add up to behaviour that gives a picture that the person is in trouble," says Irvine. She adds that it's not necessarily addiction at that point but if you can tick all or many of those boxes it's definitely a bright red flag.
If you spot the red flags early, in yourself or someone else, it's very possible to switch tracks with the help of friends, family or professionals. If you think you're starting to become dependent, see your GP in the first instance, who can suggest an appropriate route to recovery. And remember, up to half of your vulnerability to addiction may be genetic. We all need to keep a grip on habits that, in excess, may be self-destructive, but it's worth being particularly careful if dependence runs in your family.
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