Addiction usually begins with a conscious or unconscious desire to medicate to avoid pain (emotional and/or physical) and always follows a similar pattern. After initial pleasure, the addictive substance or behavior becomes a requirement for the person to feel "normal." Eventually, the realization comes that the addictive substance or behavior is actually causing pain (emotional and/or physical). Trying without success to change the behavior, the person has become dependent—a slave to the addiction—and has seemingly lost the freedom to choose.

People often feel shame, depressed, or overwhelmed after coming down from a "high." This, in turn, can cause them to use again in an addictive cycle. This cycle usually intensifies, with greater amounts of drugs needed to get the person high. The substance is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period of time than was intended.

Addiction harms the addict physically, psychologically, spiritually, and/or socially. It is now possible to visualize areas of damage to the brain from many abused substances. The use of ecstasy, for example, has been shown to cause chronic defects in the brain with long-lasting impairment of mental functions. Family members and significant others are also severely affected and hurt by addiction.

Signs and symptoms of addiction: