Are some addictions easier to quit than others?

The Internet > Heroin

At Synanon, in Santa Monica, during the late 60’s they made a no smoking rule. Many of the addicts who had successfully quit using heroin had to leave the program.

For me, it’s negative relationships. I didn’t have it that great as a child, I had to hold on to what was bad for me, and I definitely think it screwed me up a little. I can’t give up on anyone once I’ve been close to them. I have virtually no concept of “moving on”. I think about it… And I know it would probably be for the best… But how do you just do it? I don’t know, I’ve never known, and sometimes I’m scared that I’ll never learn.

@pinkparaluies yes yes yes yes.

If we’re talking physical addictions, I’ve heard that cigarettes are the hardest to quit. My mom’s cousin used to be an alcoholic, a coke addict and a smoker and she said the hardest one to quite was cigarettes.

@KatawaGrey it was different for me. alcohol was the easiest, then cigarettes, then everything else.

Cigarettes were fairly easy to quit, but my addiction to sugar and caffeine is another story.

After the physical effects have left the body all that’s left is the psychological effects, I assume.

I’ve quit the internet multiple times, as my lurve reveals accurately. I just get busy and don’t think about it for a while.
And then I use in moderation for a while.
Then I get addicted for a day or two and then kick myself and hopefully go back to moderation.

caffeine might be an addiction, but I will never quit it. Life without caffeine is sad and lonely. Decaffeinated coffee isn’t coffee at all, it’s simply brown water.

I will probably never quit smoking. I have tried a million times, only to go back to the nasty things.

@Psychedelic_Zebra Caffeine would be the hardest for me to give up. I could never do it.

Hello. I’m a Fluther addict. A really bad one.

how many hours of the day is it okay to fluther?

Things you need to use are harder to regulate than things you can quit. You can’t quit food, you can quit cigarettes. Physical v. psychological need. So yes, things you can avoid encountering are easier to quit than those that you can’t or that you would have to go very far to not encounter. Addictions to food, caffeine, sugar and other things like that are almost impossible to conquer because of what someone would have to do in order to conquer them… And would probably still encounter them (or would have to in order to live, in the case of food) and possibly have to start over again.

I would think that addictions that have a physical dependence would be much harder to quit than those that are only a mental dependence, but I haven’t had any experience to go by.

@YARNLADY If I could quit food, that’d be great. Just think how fast my butt would shrink! Or not… since I have that metabolism or whatever that holds onto fat. :P Anyone that’s dieted has experience with a physical dependence.

@avvooooooo—There are some conditions when overeating is a result of a compulsion, or addiction, but many of us are simply conditioned to overeating by habit and need to find a way to change that bad habit. It is a far cry from addiction.

@YARNLADY I am aware of this. I am also aware of a great many things that have to do with mental health and addiction. There are many, many things that eating excessively or poorly, even in those who do not consider themselves addicted, has in common with addiction. The soothing effect of food for many people beyond the norm (stress eating, comfort eating) and the cravings for certain things are the main aspects that this has in common with addiction. Food, for all of us, has a psychological effect. If you were to look at a number of people’s eating habits in the same way you looked at smoking habits or anything else, it would be clear that food was a problem that could be called “addiction.” Many people will never own up to it or be treated for it, but there are far more people than you think out there who could be considered addicted to food.

My last comment, however, was about physical dependence. We are all physically dependent on food, some of us are physically/psychologically dependent on certain types of food. It is not simple conditioning for many people, if you really look at it.

I don’t know if any are easier, but some are definitely harder.

@Psychedelic_Zebra “Decaffeinated coffee isn’t coffee at all, it’s simply brown water.”
That set me into a fit of laughter that caused the neighbors to bang on the ceiling to get me to shut up. I couldn’t agree more!

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities glad I could make your day. The neighbors need to get a more sound proof ceiling.

I think so. Quitting alcohol was easy for me when I did it before and then again recently. Quitting prescription pills was a bit uncomfortable. Quitting soda and most sugars from my diet was worse than the previous two but quitting smoking has been really really really hard. I’ve quit twice in my life for several years at a time but right now I feel like I need this last vice or else I’ll go crazy.

I cant get away from naked women in my bed.

@ChazMaz Life can be a bitch. ~ My sympathies

Yes, it all depends what’s important at the time. I got sick of wheezing from smoking tobacco- so I quit easily. I find alcohol difficult, a love hate, off on addiction. Totally quit sodas and alphabet news broadcasts-easy. Hardest addictions to quit is being a carnivore and a horny mf..

I’m not sure. I was an IV heroin and cocaine addict.. I have been clean now for 3½ years, but I still smoke cigarettes. I don’t know if quitting smoking is necessarily harder than quitting heroin and cocaine though… I think maybe I just can’t give up the only vice I have left. When I was using heroin, I could go for days without cigarettes and not really think about it. So, perhaps, the truly hard thing is just to give up ALL addictions. It’s hard to be without ANY vices whatsoever, and I am not sure that any addict is ever free of ALL addictive behaviors. I see many people in NA/AA who have given up serious addictions to drugs and alcohol, but I see new behaviors that have taken their place- whether it’s food or shopping or internet or sex or work or social-climbing… I think we all seek something to makes us feel better. Is that a bad thing? I don’t know that it is, as long as the behavior isn’t truly unhealthy…