Addiction Physical vs Psychological

It would be misleading to say that physical addiction and psychological addiction are completely separate. This is because the brain and the body are not different things – the brain is part of the body. It is possible for the person to have addiction symptoms that are predominately psychological in nature. A good example of this would be gambling or internet addiction.

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This means that they feel the need to engage in the behavior in order to cope or because they have a deep urge to do so. When it comes to alcohol and drugs the individual will usually develop both a physical and psychological addiction. The way this usually happens is that the person develops a psychological dependence first of all, and this drives them to keep using the drugs until they become physically addiction as well.

Defining Psychological Addiction

The word psychological can be defined as relating to, or arising from the mind or emotions. A psychological addiction can be defined as to how the individual become mentally dependent on certain substances that may be mind altering or behaviors. Even after individual’s realization of the harm that alcohol and drugs are causing them they may continue to use because of these psychological symptoms because willpower alone doesn’t often help to overcome a psychological addiction.

The symptoms of psychological addiction can include: