Hi All: Could someone (or maybe more than one someone) answer a question for me? In simple terms, what's the difference in physical addiction to nicotine and psychological addiction to it? I've looked it up on the web, but I can't find anything that's written in a way that I can truly understand. If any of you all know, please share that knowledge w/ me. Thanks, in advance.
An update: doing fine w/ my quit. Feel great, rarely think about smoking and, if I do, the thought is fleeting. Got my final month's supply of Chantix today. My last four weeks will start on 4/4/07. Gosh....the time has gone by so quickly. I love not smoking!!!!!!!
Physical addiction: A state of physiological ( the bodies) adaptation to regular intake of a psychoactive (nicotine) substance, manifested in development of tolerance and emergence of a withdrawal or abstinance syndrome when administration of the drug is suspended or the drug is displaced from its site of action.
The withdrawal syndrome may be relieved in whole or in part by readministration of the drug.
Psychological Addiction: A condition in which repetitive use of a psychoactive (nicotine) substance produces a subjective sense of need for that drug, either to produce pleasure or to avoid negative effects associated with abstinance from the drug. The sense of need is sometimes referred to as an intense craving for, or a compulsion to take, the drug.
These definitions are not my own, Psychiatric Dictionary; Robert J. Campbell
I hope they make sense to you, if not, feel free to ask any questions.
Sapphire
Last edited by SiiouteSapphire; 03-30-2007 at 05:17 PM.
Reason: spelling corrections
Here's another defination:
Psychological Addiction can be defined as compulsive use of a substance. It is also characterized by loss of control. The addict tends to focus very much on the drug. In fact, the addict's whole life revolves around the drug: obtaining the drug, using the drug, and when the next fix will be.
Physical Addiction refers to developing withdrawal symptoms during abstinence. In other words, if an addict is using drugs and suddenly stops, it is normal for that person to go through withdrawal. Experiencing withdrawal means the person has developed a physical dependence.
Hi Trish! Glad your quit is still going well!
It seems like the time flies (sometimes) for me, and ask me again tomorrow, and it seems like forever.
What the other folks said on addictions and a little bit more for you to take away with you.
I'm gonna push beyond just nicotine, so maybe to enhance understanding though...somebody correct me if I'm wrong...
With a physical addiction, the body has not only gotten used to having something 'extra' like nicotine, but has adapted to it, requiring it for 'normal' operating procedures. When that substance is withdrawn, the body goes through another round of 'adaptation', which can be quite harsh as we know, off of nicotine. You can get an 'alphabet soup' of effects as our different 'sub-systems' in our body all freak out at the loss. You might have had some physical trauma's getting away from nicotine. I did.
With some substances, 'cold turkey' to physical addiction can even get serious enough that it can kill you.
Psychological addiction on the other hand...doesn't just deal with substances we ingest. It can be to anything we get as a 'habit'; TV, computer use, or all sorts of things we do can be psychologically addicting, and it doesn't necessarily mean negative things either. In a sense, our minds get 'adapted' to these things in our lives and they are a part of it.
Quite literally, those things are part of the way we think. Withdrawal from psychological addictions can be a much longer process, relative to physical withdrawal.
The upside, as we have learned here, is that we can get past the physical addiction to nicotine relatively quickly and we can find the strength to battle the psychological addiction for the rest of our lives, if need be.
I hope this helps.
Thanks, everyone, for your responses. I now understand the difference.
I'm still doing great w/ not smoking and continue to feel super. The only "problem" is sleeping. At the beginning on Chantix, I couldn't sleep enough and now I'm having difficulty getting to sleep. Have been occasionally taking sleep aids, but I'd prefer just falling asleep. Oh well....I rather be sleepless and not smoking than the other way around.
Thanks, everyone, for your responses. I now understand the difference.
I'm still doing great w/ not smoking and continue to feel super. The only "problem" is sleeping. At the beginning on Chantix, I couldn't sleep enough and now I'm having difficulty getting to sleep. Have been occasionally taking sleep aids, but I'd prefer just falling asleep. Oh well....I rather be sleepless and not smoking than the other way around.
Bye for now...
Trish, You are doing just great. I agree with you that I would rather be smoke free and have a few problems sleeping that to sleep good but still smoke. I too am up alot during the night. I drink so much water now that I have to get up to go to the bathroom. I also wake up because my mouth is sooooo dry. I wake up from the dreams. It takes me 12 hours of trying to sleep just to get 7 hours of sleep. But, I am hopeful that over time this will improve, but if not, I will tolerate it. The consequenses of smoking are far worse than broken up sleep. I think even if I went the route of taking a sleeping pill, I would still wake up for the same reasons. It would probably just help to get me to sleep initially.
Has anyone found anything that helps with the vivid dreams and sometimes nightmares? Some have taken their evening pill early and say it helps them fall asleep easier. I think I am going to try taking my evening pill around 5 and see if that makes falling asleep a bit easier. I'll let you know.
Re: What's The Difference 
Trish, You are doing just great. I agree with you that I would rather be smoke free and have a few problems sleeping that to sleep good but still smoke. I too am up alot during the night. I drink so much water now that I have to get up to go to the bathroom. I also wake up because my mouth is sooooo dry. I wake up from the dreams. It takes me 12 hours of trying to sleep just to get 7 hours of sleep. But, I am hopeful that over time this will improve, but if not, I will tolerate it. The consequenses of smoking are far worse than broken up sleep. I think even if I went the route of taking a sleeping pill, I would still wake up for the same reasons. It would probably just help to get me to sleep initially. 
