Questions tagged [addiction]

Continued physical or psychological dependence on a substance or behavior despite negative or even life-threatening physical or societal consequences. Can also refer to any of the many and varied treatments available for addiction, any of the many and varied explanations for the proposed mechanisms behind addictive behavior, or other social, physical, political, moral, ethical, medical, religious, and legal issues surrounding addiction and its treatment.

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Do video games lead to increased depression, anxiety and aggression?

Nicholas Kardaras is a addiction expert who was a professor at Stony Brook Medicine. In his 2016 NY Post article he claims that screen time is extremely harmful to children. The article intermingles ...
svavil's user avatar
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105 votes
2 answers
19k views

Did 20% of US soldiers in Vietnam use heroin, 95% of whom quit afterwards?

The following claims were made around 04:50 of this TED talk by Johann Hari: 20 percent of all American troops were using loads of heroin, and if you look at the news reports from the time, they ...
d-b's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
954 views

Is addiction a disease?

In the DVD Pleasure Unwoven, Dr Kevin McCauley, a medical doctor, claims that addiction is a disease. In the video he argues against the choice model, and explains the neuroscience of addiction I ...
Jerome Viveiros's user avatar
95 votes
3 answers
36k views

Does porn destroy dopamine receptors?

Kevin Majeres, a psychiatrist claims that porn destroys dopamine receptors. A quote from his website: This is why pornography causes a vicious circle. When someone views pornography, he gets ...
Akli's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
233 views

Does porn addiction exist and if it does, can a prepubescent be diagnosed with it? [duplicate]

According to this answer from 3 years ago, it was uncertain whether porn addiction existed: As with many behavioral addictions, including sex addiction, that would be a broader category, pornography ...
Malady's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
1k views

Is the correlation in betwen childhood trauma and addiction stronger than the correlation in between diabetes and obesity?

I came across this image on the internet, which makes the claim, "There is a stronger link between childhood trauma and addiction, than there is between obesity and diabetes. Two thirds of addicts ...
James G.'s user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
762 views

Is it fair to say that "everything we think we know about addiction is incorrect"? [closed]

A popular channel on YouTube that I previously held in high regard recently published a video, where several surprising claims are made. I think I can sum the claims up as follows: Addictive ...
0xDBFB7's user avatar
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15 votes
0 answers
846 views

Does giving a drug to a former addict cause reestablishment of chemical dependence?

Joel Spitzer, an anti-smoking counsellor, claimed on whyquit.com that there is a law of addiction which is: The law of physiological addiction states administration of a drug to an addict will ...
Online User's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
172 views

Can the special sound frequency make addiction? [duplicate]

Supposedly, for certain music track are used any frequencies that the human ear can not hear , but the brain can. And this the frequencies create pleasant feelings, which is why more people choose a ...
blackcornail's user avatar
35 votes
1 answer
3k views

Is pornography addictive?

I saw the Gary Wilson's talk, The Great Porn Experiment, which states that pornography causes arousal addiction which in turn is supposed to have a lot of negative effects like: ADHD Social anxiety ...
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14 votes
1 answer
1k views

Can you get addicted to cheese?

In the documentary "Super Size Me" an interviewee of Morgan Spurlock says: If you look at the menu at a fast food restaurant, they use all of the addicting components. They'll take a slab of ...
0xC0000022L's user avatar
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15 votes
1 answer
622 views

Drug addiction: "You can only help if the person wants to be helped"

"A drug addict can only be helped if he/she wants to be helped." - is a common advice/statement. Have there been any studies/research which either confirms or rejects this statement? Looking at for ...
erhr's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
592 views

Are fish addictive to cats?

Today I found an interesting article that claims that feeding fish to cat is not a good idea: Fish should be avoided, except for occasional use, for many reasons including: heavy metal ...
Matteo's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
731 views

Do people smoke only due to psychological reasons?

Many smokers have told me that smoking gives them immense pleasure - that they let go of all their worries when they smoke a cigarette. Their descriptions of the sensations produced are quite similar ...
Green Noob's user avatar
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16 votes
1 answer
1k views

Can Marijuana use result in addiction?

From the drugabuse.gov website: Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction; that is, people have difficulty controlling their drug use and cannot stop even though it interferes with many ...
Sonny Ordell's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
1k views

Are cigarettes addictive?

At least one person has published alleged doubts about whether cigarettes are addictive, with their doubt/claim being supposedly backed by at least one scientific study. Is this a reasonable question ...
ChrisW's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
5k views

Does smoking under three cigarettes a day prevent addiction?

I heard that if you smoke at most three cigarettes a day you don't get addicted to smoking. A similar idea was introduced in a How I Met Your Mother episode. Is this true?
Alexandru's user avatar
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37 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is Alcoholics Anonymous effective?

In my research I've found statistics for spontaneous remission from addiction: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10976668. The statistics for A.A. seem to be a little more difficult to find/interpret....
user avatar
31 votes
3 answers
3k views

Does addictive behavior exist?

There are widespread claims that you can get addicted to video games, shopping, internet, whatever, even sex. Not merely "like it very much", but addicted, as in addicted to alcohol. According to ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
626 views

Are there any viable shortcuts to stop smoking?

A variety of treatments are purportedly available to aid in quitting smoking. What are effective, scientifically proven ways to quit smoking? In particular, is any treatment significantly better ...
Sklivvz's user avatar
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