The addict is basically unstable, in that he tends to require an ever-increasing dose of his addicting substance in order to keep well. By keeping “well” is meant the maintenance of immediate stimulatory effects (“highs”) and avoidance of delayed withdrawal effects (“hangovers,” or “lows”). This is true of the drug addict, food addict, or alcohol addict. The main difference between these types of addictions is that the drug addict usually knows the identity of his addicting substance, whereas the food addict is ordinarily hooked on one or more unrecognized foods. The drink addict, or alcoholic, is usually hooked not on alcohol per se but on one or more foods from which alcoholic beverages are derived. More will be said about addiction to these food-drug combinations later.
An addiction response is quite properly referred to as a “trip.” Such a journey, consisting of many ups and downs, may stretch over many years. At first, the “highs” of addiction may be pleasant and rewarding. But as the “trip” continues, such “highs” tend to become less desirable, though still far preferable to the more disastrous “lows”. The addict’s prospects are bleak, whether he is hooked on foods, drink, or drugs. Generally speaking, he tends to climb to a certain stimulatory level before falling into a pit. The pit consists of increasingly common and prolonged withdrawals which can no longer be avoided or postponed by recourse to the formerly effective substances. Allergies of all sorts, including fatigue, aches and pains, and depression come to dominate the addict’s life. When he is no longer able to cope with these withdrawals as he formerly could, he finally seeks medical care.
Table 1 presents the various levels of addiction and the manner in which they affect the addict’s physical and mental state. It can be seen from this chart that many of the most common chronic illnesses can actually be way stations of the addiction trip. These include some problems usually dismissed as “psychosomatic” by physicians and psychotherapists.
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