Explaining Addiction
Greetings of Peace,
You might be wondering, what exactly is addiction? And how can you tell if you—or someone you care about—might be struggling with it?
Simply put, addiction is a compulsion—an irresistible urge to consume or do something, even when we know it’s harmful. As someone who has lived with addiction and is now sober, I can tell you firsthand that it feels like being trapped in a vicious cycle. I remember constantly thinking about my next fix—when and how I would get it. The urge to use controlled me, even when I desperately didn’t want to, even when I knew I’d suffer consequences. Inevitably, I would give in, because of some lame excuse, telling myself it would be different this time, that it would be the last time. Each time I gave in, I found myself back in the cycle, emerging remorseful with a firm resolution not to do it again—until I did.
An addict might be hooked on substances like drugs, alcohol, or pills—what doctors call Substance Use Disorder or Alcohol Use Disorder. But addiction isn’t just about substances. Some of us develop what are called “process addictions”—compulsive behaviors like online gambling, sex, pornography, or overeating, which can be just as tough to break. If you notice you’re often thinking about, planning for, or hiding your use of drugs, alcohol, pornography, or even food, you might be dealing with addiction.
For now, I want to focus on addiction to substances—like drugs and alcohol. To keep things simple, when I say “addiction,” I mean both alcoholism and drug addiction.
Some of the most common addictions involve drugs, painkillers, and alcohol. Medical professionals often refer to Substance Use Disorder and Alcoholism as diseases. Just like with cancer or heart disease, there are choices we can make that might put us more at risk, but there are also biological and genetic factors we can’t control. What makes addiction different from other diseases is how it shows up in our behavior. Often, my addiction caused me to act out of character—I would lie, manipulate people, and even commit crimes. There’s a common joke among sober people that goes:
“If I drink/drug, I may break out in handcuffs.”
This bit of humor perfectly describes our plight. Similar to someone with a peanut allergy who breaks out in hives as a consequence of exposure, when I use what I’m addicted to, the consequences are behavioral. The book “Alcoholics Anonymous” describes the illness of addiction this way: “If a person has cancer, all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness [...] It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad wives and parents—anyone can increase the list.”
Whether you are the person experiencing addiction—wondering why you keep making the same mistakes—or you’re a family member being lied to and taken advantage of, the cycle of addiction is infuriating and confusing. Thinking of addiction as a disease has really helped me, especially when dealing with the frustration and heartbreak it brings.
Muslims aren’t immune to addiction, either. We all live in human bodies, and that means we’re all vulnerable to human struggles and diseases—addiction included. In 2003, the NIH did a study that found that while American Muslims had a lower rate of alcohol use disorder, there was no difference in the rate of Substance Use Disorder when compared to the general population. Internationally, some predominantly Muslim countries have some of the highest rates of opioid use in the world. The Middle East region is also a major contributor to the worldwide production of opioid products and methamphetamines.
Defining addiction is not nearly as complicated as talking about recovery from it. But InshAllah, I will do my best to discuss sobriety and recovery in the following blogs.
For now, know this: If you feel your heart is blocked and it seems like the light will never get in again, it’s not because you are defective, or a bad person, or a bad Muslim. You may be suffering from addiction the same way I have suffered, and I am here to tell you: I understand, and maybe you can get better too.
SAMHSA: What is Substance Use Disorder? https://www.samhsa.gov/substance-use/what-is-sud
SAMHSA: Alcohol https://www.samhsa.gov/substance-use/learn/alcohol
Self Survey for Alcoholism: https://www.aa.org/self-assessment
Self Survey for Drug Addiction: https://ncaddnational.org/drug-self-assessment-test/
Who is an addict, as defined by Narcotics Anonymous: https://naworks.org/readings/who/
CDC article on understanding addiction \:
NIH study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37329255/
NIH opioid addiction in Afghanistan https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6125658/
NIH substance abuse disorder in the Middle East and North Africa https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11881533/#:~:text=Sangestani%20et%20al.-,8,another%20study%2C%20Safiri%20et%20al.
Understanding Injection Drug use in Afganistan https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13011-022-00491-1
