Addiction and Mental Illness

This is an article mainly saying that drug abuse is a mental illness, but I think that it would apply to all forms of addiction and not just drugs.

Link to article

You're damn right on that one. People who, for example, are sex addicts, video game addicts, or have any other form of addiction have a mental illness too. It might not be as harmful as addiction and dependence on drugs, but any sort of addiction where the mind loses control of the body IS a mental illness, and should be treated duly.

I hate the use of the term "mental illness" although I understand it is an accepted term. When I think mental illness, I think of a very serious behavioral mental problem, such as in the movies that requires hospitalization. I prefer the term disorder, because I think of it like a "disordered" chemical pattern in the brain. I guess that is just the use of semantics and me being sensitized to mental illness in the "one flew over the cuckoos nest" era.

Janie you made me smile and I get exactly what you mean. Still another person might not like the word "disorder" and prefer to use a word like "condition". When everything is said and done, it's still a mental illness and there is no question about it. Still no one needs to feel offended. We just need to get rid of the stigma of mental illness and see it as just another "disorder" which needs to be addressed. Interesting article Kevinkimers.

I don't think it should be labelled as a 'mental illness' as such, because that's kind of assuming that people who get addicted to things must be mentally ill when addiction is just addiction. However, it is a well known fact that people who suffer with mental illnesses, such as personality disorders for example, are more prone to substance abuse and addiction but not all of them.

My addiction is directly linked with my mental illness, I self harm.
I suffer with depression and panic disorder. I got addicted to damaging my body, because of my mental illness.
Like the poster before me said though, not all people who are addicted to something are mentally ill, that'd be a big reach.
I feel like people who have certain mental illnesses are prone to addiction more, that doesn't mean that EVERYONE who is addicted to something is mentally ill, though.