Reply #65: "physical withdrawal is often part of recovery for these people" [View All]

[Deep13]

Do they become sick to their stomachs, chilled and hallucinate?

I know in popular parlance the word addiction has come to mean pychological dependency such as with eating disorders, video games, kleptomania, nonaddictive drugs and even sex. Still, what it really means is a physical dependency on drugs that result in withdrawal symptoms if discontinued. I don't doubt that it is hard to control eating when one has an eating disorder, especially since one cannot simply quit. Nevertheless, while returning to a healthy diet may produce some unconfortable symptoms and cause anxieties to go unabated, it does not result in the severe symptoms of withdrawal. For example, meth addiction is so strong that a person who goes cold turkey will actually be killed by it.

Anyway, the original posted asked if a person can be an addict and still be productive. My answer is based on the fact that addiction has to do with physical dependence and not career performance. Caffiene might be addictive and if so millions of addicts functions fine every day inspite of it.