Thread: the difference between habit and addiction?

is there really a difference between habit and addiction?

habit is psycological and addiction is physical?

there are many drugs that cause only mental addiction and not physical additcion, like cocaine for example. also alcoholics are addicted way before they are in the sorry state of actually getting physical withdrawal symptoms. psychological addiction exists, and it's not the same as a habit.

i have a habit of brushing my teeth every day, but i went on a camp once, and forgot my toothbrush, and didn't have enough money to buy a new one.
(i was about 10, and my mother was cheap)
it was horrible, i couldn't sleep, and after 2 days, i was so desperate i used someone elses toothbrush.

I actually giggled :-D Addiction to brushing your teeth.

Habit I'd say that you could stop it anytime and not have any problems with withdrawl while in addiction you may want to stop but you can't also if you do stop then you'll suffer withdrawl. (most ppl not all)

Originally Posted by dejawolf

i have a habit of brushing my teeth every day, but i went on a camp once, and forgot my toothbrush, and didn't have enough money to buy a new one.
(i was about 10, and my mother was cheap)
it was horrible, i couldn't sleep, and after 2 days, i was so desperate i used someone elses toothbrush.

lol, sounds more like an obsessive compulsive toothbrush disorder

well, i do have the occasional need to step in the middle of tiles.

I have this silly thing about breathing, is that a habit or an addiction? I don't think I could live without it.

Generally psychologists classify something as an “addiction” only if it interferes with your life and you’re unable to be happy without it. For example, most people are in the habit of watching TV every day. But most people don’t have any trouble turning off the TV when it’s time to go to work, and most people are perfectly happy to do something else for entertainment if a convenient alternative is available. So watching TV is merely a habit, rather than an addiction.

Originally Posted by Scifor Refugee

Generally psychologists classify something as an “addiction” only if it interferes with your life and you’re unable to be happy without it. For example, most people are in the habit of watching TV every day. But most people don’t have any trouble turning off the TV when it’s time to go to work, and most people are perfectly happy to do something else for entertainment if a convenient alternative is available. So watching TV is merely a habit, rather than an addiction.

Thanks for the totally boring, yet completely correct answer.

I think habit is just a usual manner of behaviour through frequent repitition. In this way you are accustomed to doing that something, most of the times because you want to not because you need to.
Addiction on the other hand is something you have/need to do whether you want to or not because if it is not fulfilled you tend to suffer physically and mentally. This is because there is a chemical and sometimes physical change to the dependency of some function in your brain. Take, say for example, nicotine; it replaces the function of a certain chemical that is a part of a larger system, thus you become dependent on it because without it the larger system does not work.
The same is not true for a habit. Turning on the tv when you come home from work does not severely interfere with your brain chemistry, you simply do it because you have become accustomed to doing it through repitition, you are not dependent on it.

Originally Posted by Tony John C

I have this silly thing about breathing, is that a habit or an addiction? I don't think I could live without it.

Strangely enough, I have the same thing. :?