Some people drink or take drugs on a regular basis over a long period of time, and have few, if any, problems. Others, however, quickly lose control of how much and how often they consume, and they develop a dependence or addiction. Dependence happens in many different ways and to different degrees. It is a complex problem that can affect you, your family and social network. Dependence affects your thoughts, feelings and behaviour, so that you can't control or stop your drinking or drug use.
There are two different sorts of 'addiction' or dependence.
Often people have both types:
Mind dependence is when a person feels a seriously strong urge to keep taking the drink or drugs, and it can happen with any substance. It's really common with cigarette smoking, cocaine and crack use. It's just as hard to get over mind dependence as body dependence, and often the two go together. Psychological dependence, however, doesn't lead to illness or death.
Physical dependence can happen with most downers like alcohol, sleeping tablets and heroin. These drugs copy important chemicals that normally live in the body, so when a person takes them regularly, the body stops making the original natural version.
If the person then stops taking the drug, they suffer withdrawal symptoms. This is when the body is left without any of the vital chemical, and becomes ill or even dies, and that's why people who are physically dependent often need medical help, and sometimes to stay in hospital, if they want to stop using.
Physical dependence also causes 'tolerance' where a person needs more and more of the drink or drugs to feel the same effect.
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