[FRIAM] Addiction and depression

[Jochen Fromm]

I was reading a book about addictions (Addictions - A Social Psychological Perspective edited by Catalina E. Kopetz and Carl W. Lejuez, Routledge, 2015) and was wondering if addiction and depression are two extremes on the same spectrum. Addiction is in a sense the opposite of depression: we feel either forced to do something or compelled to do nothing. We either can not stop doing something or can not do anything at all.Rock stars and rich people or their kids often suffer from drug addiction to alcohol or cocaine or other drugs, while ordinary people are more affected from junk food and porn. Junk food is to supper time what porn is to pairing time. They hijack the ancient mechanisms which ensure that we maintain our bodies (by ingesting food) and maintain our species (by having sex). The reward system in our brains is triggered without providing the benefits the rewards were meant to guarantee.What do you think, could you say that addiction and depression are two related phenomena where inbuilt reward mechanism go awry?-J.
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