Defining Addiction by William Moyers on Creators.com

Recently

Whitney's Legacy Had she lived, Whitney Houston would have been in the second-to-last "class" of baby boomers turning 50 years old. Her death underscores a dangerous dynamic facing this generation as it enters older age. About 77 million Americans were …Read more. Stealth Bomber Sometimes it is the immediacy of the moment's emotions that demands this space, and that's what spills forth right now. The best I can do is just lay it out; if I think too hard, I'll bury it in a neat and tidy column, and you won't know what I'm …Read more. Vigilance: A Mouthful Suddenly, I'm enamored with going to the dentist. I even welcome his prying at my teeth and poking into my gums, which need repair. Bring it on, I say. Except when he's got his tools in my mouth propped wide-open. Then I utter nothing. My new …Read more. My Hero Mel, Twice It's not often any of us can claim one hero twice in our lives, and for different reasons. In my life, that's Mel Schulstad. He died this month. He was 93. This past week, I had the honor of offering a eulogy at his memorial service in Everett, Wash.…Read more.

Defining Addiction

Alcohol. Sex. Cocaine. BlackBerrys.

When does the excessive use of any of these actually become a full-blown addiction?

Dr. Paul Earley helped to save my life in 1994, after I had relapsed and was struggling to find recovery from my addiction to alcohol and other drugs. I am forever grateful to him. So I'm not quite objective in asking for his professional opinion today.

But as the medical director at Talbott Recovery Campus, a treatment program in Atlanta, he is a leading authority on the criteria used to define addiction. Here's his insight.

"The most concise indicator — the one I use in my practice every day — is the continued use despite adverse consequences," Earley says. "A woman leaves her husband because of his drinking, but he is still drinking. A patient keeps using despite a physician's repeated warnings. Somebody gets arrested for drunken driving but continues to drink and drive. These are pretty good signs that addiction is present."

Treatment experts often utilize the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which has seven indicators for addiction, for example, a growing tolerance for substances or withdrawal when a person stops using them. However, Earley notes that many addictive substances don't produce physical dependence, so these indicators are not always relevant.

Social and interpersonal criteria usually are more helpful. "If you cannot imagine going to a party or a social gathering without consuming alcohol or other drugs, then addiction may be your big issue," Earley says.

"Obtaining, using or recovering from those substances are usually strong indicators of a problem."

Earley asks his patients two questions to help them cut through their denial and understand the root of their problems: "Have you ever tried to quit? And if so, what happened?"

This reminds me of when I was back in treatment and under his care in 1994. He quoted Mark Twain to get it through my thick skull that just because I knew how to quit did not mean I had my problem solved: "Twain described his battle with cigars in a tongue-in-cheek manner with this quip: 'Quitting smoking is no problem. I do it all the time.' People who don't have a problem do not have to quit or quit more than once."

This time I tapped Earley's perspective because of a flood of inquiries and feedback from readers about my columns of the past few weeks on everything from Tiger Woods to drunken driving to my own baffling inability to disconnect from my new wireless device. It seems as if I have as many critics as I do people who agree with my perspectives. No wonder. Addiction is a divisive issue.

But a lot of readers responded out of desperation. They want help for family members or themselves yet are unsure exactly what it means to become addicted and don't know what to ask beyond, "Can you help me?"

Addiction is everybody's issue, too.

William Moyers is the vice president of foundation relations for the Hazelden Foundation and the author of "Broken," his best-selling memoirs, and "A New Day, A New Life." Please send your questions to William Moyers at wmoyers@hazelden.org. To find out more about William Moyers and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.