What causes addictions?
Most people do not intend to become addicts. Many addictions start with experimentation. Social pressure, as with cigarettes or marijuana, may influence us to experiment. The human need to be accepted, to be part of the crowd, is very powerful. Some people are more prone to become addicted than others as a function of genetic predisposition. Others are more emotionally needy than others and thus more prone to become addicts. And still others are seeking a way to stop emotional pain; for some it becomes a form of self-medication. Cigarette and alcohol addictions, for example, begin within a social context. Once we have experimented some people find that the substance gives immediate pleasure and offers an escape from current psychological pain and/or loneliness. Addicts do not think of the long-term consequences of their behavior. They live in the moment. Once addicted, these individuals need more of the substance to maintain themselves. At this point there is both the physical and ps
