The Difference Between an Addiction and a Habit

Understanding what differentiates habit and addiction is crucial for self-awareness and effective behavioral management. In general, habits aren’t dangerous or life-threatening. However, they can become destructive, leading to an addiction. Recognizing when a habit transforms into an addiction is critical to building healthy lifestyle changes.

In this blog, we explore the subtle differences between these two behaviors, so you can recognize how these behaviors manifest and impact our lives.

Habit vs. Addiction: What Are the Differences?

A habit is something you do regularly and subconsciously, like washing your hands after using the bathroom, brushing your teeth after taking a shower, or having a glass of wine right after dinner. An addiction, on the other hand, is a state of physical or psychological dependence on a substance like alcohol or drugs. Let’s look at their differences in detail.

Level of Control

You have an easier chance of controlling a habit than an addiction. You can stop a bad habit by replacing it with a good one, meaning you have some level of self-control, but an addiction controls you. An alcohol addiction, for example, affects your self-control by reducing your ability to regulate drinking. You might be aware of your error and know its harmful effects, but the addiction is going to make you less concerned about it.  

Consequences

Habits don’t affect your life as seriously as addictions, and you can continue to enjoy relatively good health, relationships, and careers.

Alcohol addictions can cause severe consequences for your health, career, and relationships, including:

• Health risks. Fatty liver, liver cirrhosis, high blood pressure, alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy, stroke, pancreatitis, gastrointestinal tract damage, wet brain, alcohol-related brain impairment (ARBI), and more.
• Psychological/mental health issues. Insomnia, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, low motivation, and withdrawal from friends and family
• Marital issues. Conflict, infidelity, unplanned pregnancy, domestic violence, financial instability, and divorce.
• Effects on children of addicts. Depression, loneliness, anxiety, guilt, anger, and lack of trust.
• Financial. Debt and homelessness
• Social. Drunk driving, crime, and sexually transmitted infections
• Career/professional. Absenteeism, accidents at work, poor concentration and coordination, and job loss

Frequency and Urgency

For an alcohol addict, drinking becomes their priority over family, friends, and responsibilities. Drinking episodes happen several times a day because of the intense craving. On the other hand, habits are not typically motivated by a strong sense of urgency, and they occur as part of a routine rather than several times per day.

Neurological Effects

Alcohol addiction damages neurons and alters communication pathways in the brain, changing the way your brain looks and works. Alcohol addiction also affects the frontal lobes, hippocampus, cerebellum, medulla, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland, resulting in problems with decision-making, attention, memory, judgment, balance, movement, and other functions.

Habits, on the other hand, might alter neural pathways in the brain, but not as severely as addiction.

Dependency and Withdrawal Symptoms

An addiction to alcohol causes intense cravings, which give you a strong and uncontrollable desire to drink to the point where you’ll need alcohol to function. The dependency will make you continue drinking even though you’re facing severe health issues like liver cirrhosis. When you try to stop drinking, you may experience severe withdrawal symptoms like agitation, hypertension, visual hallucinations, and hypothermia.

Habits don’t cause intense cravings, dependency, or withdrawal symptoms.

Treatment

You can change a habit independently with minimal effort and in less time using strategies like recognizing cues and building new habits.

Treating addiction requires intervention from medical professionals in the form of detoxification programs, medication-assisted therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, counseling, and more.

How To Know if It Is an Addiction or a Habit

Addictions and habits sit on opposite sides of the dependency scale, but habits can become addictions, making it hard to tell when you’ve crossed over. Ask yourself these questions to determine whether you have an addiction or a habit.

• Are you obsessed with the behavior? Thinking about it all the time, planning for it, and frequently engaging in it?
• Do you repeatedly engage in the behavior even though it’s negatively affecting your health, school, work, or relationships?
• Do you get anxious or feel like you can’t function if you can’t engage in the behavior? 
• Have you tried and failed to reduce or stop the behavior?
• Do you experience severe withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop drinking for a specific period?
• Do you put yourself in dangerous situations regularly, such as fighting?
• Do you try to conceal your behavior from family, friends, or coworkers?
• Do you find it difficult to admit that your behavior is causing you problems in your life?

If your answer to one or more of these questions is “yes,” you may have an addiction.

How To Overcome Addiction

Here are a few strategies to cope with and overcome habits and addictions.

Remove Triggers

Observe what triggers your bad habit or addiction, and avoid or walk away from the situation. Some common environmental triggers include:

• Social events with alcohol
• Visiting bars
• Spending time with people who are drinking
• Feelings of anxiety
• Loneliness
• Stressful situations

It’s difficult to avoid some triggers, but you can try to distract yourself with activities like taking long walks, listening to uplifting podcasts or music, or reading a book.

Avoid Isolation

Alcoholics isolate to avoid conflict and judgment. They withdraw physically and emotionally from family and friends. Sadly, isolation worsens addictions and bad habits because there’s no element of accountability; you can do what you want when you want. Avoiding isolation is a crucial part of overcoming addiction and prevents you from relapsing while in recovery. Get involved in helpful social activities, like a biking group or a cooking class. Reach out to friends you haven’t contacted in a long time and start rekindling the relationships through regular, low-intensity contact.

Spend Time With Positive People

Avoid the people who passively or actively contributed to your bad habits and addiction. They could be drinking buddies or people who allow you to drink excessively around them, or even family members. Create a network of supportive people who will positively influence your recovery. Let your friends and family know you’re quitting and ask for their support.

Seek Professional Help

Contact your primary physician for advice about the best addiction treatments and withdrawal risks. Alternatively, call a rehabilitation center or therapist to discuss your treatment options. Depending on the length and effects of your addiction, you may need in-patient rehab, outpatient rehab, medication, detoxification, or therapy.

Celebrate Your Wins

Celebrating wins gives you strength and motivation to keep going. Decide on what rewards you get when you reach specific alcohol-free milestones. You might reward yourself with a new wardrobe piece or an exotic vacation after a certain length of abstinence.

Keep Going

The journey won’t be easy, and you might succumb to temptation occasionally, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Many people struggling with addiction overcome it after several attempts, and if you’re persistent, you’ll be one of them. Alcoholism recovery statistics show that 36% of people battling alcoholism recover after one year; it’s possible for us, too.

Addiction or Habit: Get the Help You Need

The first step to getting help with a bad habit or addiction is knowing what you’re dealing with and acknowledging it. Understanding the characteristics and differences between habit and addiction helps you identify when you need help and follow the steps necessary to overcome them.