When We Just Can't Stop.

Addictions raise many questions. Are they moral weaknesses, diseases, habits, or sins? Are they physical dependencies, or complicated spiritual cycles? What's needed for change? Is it medical treatment , family intervention, daily group accountability, or spiritual transformation? Can behaviours be changed quickly, or will recovery be the process of a lifetime? If our answer to these questions is yes, or at least maybe we are being honest about the complexity of addiction.

This week and next week, we'll look at this complexity, and we'll focus on some of the more critical personal and spiritual dimensions of addiction. The Complexity of Addiction

Defining An Addiction: An addiction is an enslaving, destructive dependency. Random House defines addiction as "the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma." Because a person can be physically predisposed to an addiction, and because of the likelihood of medical complications, addictions are often viewed as a disease. It would be a mistake, however, to think only in terms of the physical dimensions. Most addictions are also rooted in moral choices and spiritual needs. What is most important is not whether we are predisposed to an enslaving habit but whether we are willing to do whatever it takes to bring this predisposed "diseased body," habit, or idol under the control of reason and faith.

How Widespread Are Addictions? According to a 1992 Library Journal article, 45 million Americans attend 140 different kinds of weekly recovery groups. Another 100 million are trying to help those who are in recovery. In other words, half of us are either in recovery or helping someone who is. If the whole picture could be seen, however, far more of us than any one has ever dreamed are captive to enslaving, destructive dependencies that are ruining us and our relationships.

What Can Be Addictive? In his book Addiction And Grace, Gerald May has compiled a list of 105 items to which many have become irresistibly attached. The vast majority are good things such as food, work exercise, shopping, and prescription drugs.

Let's look at some of the more common ones, and also the "Marks of an Addiction" in the next week. All of us have the seeds of addiction within ourselves. We all want to minimize our pain. We all want to control our world. At this point, we need to ask ourselves some important questions: "Is there anything in our lives that has become excessive, compulsive, or entangling? Is there anything we feel we cannot let go of because it means too much to us?" If so, we need to be aware that we are ripe for an enslaving, destructive dependency.