I think that when you are looking at an 'addict' they develop an addiction to alcohol or drugs (actually alcohol is just another drug), maybe whatever is around and available decides what they use. I did learn in rehab that alcohol kills many more people than drugs but death certificates say heart attack or stroke or car wreck rather than 'alcohol'. A 'non-addictive person could probably play with alcohol or drugs and put them down and walk away. The addictive person just can't.

I still believe an addiction to food is one of the more serious, addictions to control because one has to eat food to live. When I was addicted to food, as long as I didn't eat I was fine but the moment I put anything delicious into my mouth the urge to eat more and more nearly drove me crazy.

You have to and can totally obstain from booze and drugs but yet you have to eat to live, so to me food addiction is the hardest addiction to beat... Thoughts????

It was after my gastric bypass surgery at 55 that I turned to alcohol for the first time in my life. It was explained to me by several doctors that as a person predisposed to addiction I had an addiction to food, when I had surgery I could no longer satisfy that addiction so I cross-addicted to alcohol.
In rehab I shared a room with an binge eater/anorexic. She said just what you said, chatty lady, that with drugs/alcohol you can"y abstain from using but with food you had to "use" to stay alive. Also, you have to have food in your house staring you in the face day and night. I can purge my environment of all alcohol, reducing the cravings, she couldn't purge her house of food. She taught me alot about eating disorders, something I knew nothing about and had trouble understanding. (if nothing else rehab is educational)

Does anyone here drink socially only, maybe one or two. Or are you closet drinkers? I for one hate the taste of the vile stuff but a sweet wine does relax me after dinner sometimes. I get giddy as all get out however on one lousy glass. I start thinking I am Mae West! Look out men, shes loose again...

Your comment about being addictive to foods made sense to me, Chatty. That's why I need the weight watcher group. I just can't do it on my own. They have Weight watchers on line too, but visitng the group is better.
I'm just a social drinker, and if I never drank alcohol again, I wouldn't have a problem with that either.

I'm not sure how others feel about addiction but after several times in and out of rehab I have developed some thoughts that I know are at least true for me.
An addict is an addict is an addict. It can be a food addiction, drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, cigarettes or whatever. When the substance or behavior is causing negative things to happen in your life but you continue to do it anyway it is time to sit up and take notice. I'm an addict who went from food to alcohol to sobriety and fight addictive behaviors everyday. It took me awhile to grasp this concept, at first I blamed my weight on my childhood eating patterns, then the drinking on stressful life circumstances. Now I just admit to addiction and carefully monitor myself on all fronts.

Good for you Greene for seeing addiction for what it is. I believe we are all addicted to something, me I fight food addiction constantly. Others I know well can't allow a day to go by when they aren't out there running amock through the stores yelling CHARGE!!! Well not actually yelling, but spending as if they were. I know of several divorces because of it, no money coming in and too uch going out with little regard for the situation.

I think maybe the Good Lord above should have held back a bit on our "free wills." We are weak, only human and unable to trust ourselves when left alone to our good sense...

Just speaking from my experiences, it felt like the addiction took away all the 'free will' I had been given. For those 4 horrible, horrible years it felt like my will was gone and the alcohol had taken over and become the 'ruler', leaving me unable to use my free will in any healthy manner. Now I feel like I am using my free will to turn away from that life and get back to the life I had before my years of craziness,

Greene, thank you for sharing so much of your battle with addictions. While some comment, you can be sure that twice as many READ what you have to say, whether comments or made or not.

You never know when your words are exactly what someone needed to hear.

Thank you so much. You are a generous soul.

Thank you, jawjaw.