A. There are several reasons people continue using, despite the frequent feeling of wanting to stop.  They range from genetic predisposition, peer pressure, and habit, to perhaps the most important, denial.

People who are genetically predisposed to addiction appear to have less capability of stopping the offending substance or action than people without such predisposition.
If individuals have even one parent who has been addicted, they have a higher chance of being addicted themselves.  With two addicted parents, this chance exponentially increases.
Siblings and uncles who are addicted also appear to increase the chances of one becoming addicted in their own right.

Peer pressure is another significant component.  Often one’s associations are built around a specific addiction, and users become convinced that they need to continue using in order to keep the friendships/relationships together.  These relationships can become so important that continuing dangers or counterproductive behavior seem “worth it” to maintain this sense of camaraderie.

Habit is another feature that is often involved.  There are often triggers such as events, anniversaries, meals, loneliness, nighttime, and others that one eventually equate to the needs to use a substance or do the offending action.

Finally, denial can be the most major issue in some cases.  Although people may contend that they want to stop the activity or the usage, they can become convinced (often against all reasons and odds) that they are capable of using responsibly, and/or that the problems are not caused by the usage themselves.

There are several other features that can contribute to addiction or using or doing something despite “wanting to quit.”

Come join the interested members of this group so that we can all learn better ways of coping with these and other issues that are associated with addiction.

:created by DrFred and last updated by DrFred on 2007-12-17 01:53:24 - viewed 263 times