Nowadays, we talk about addiction to alcohol and illegal drugs, but also to sex, shopping, mobile phones, video games and so on. It seems that people can become “addicted” to all kinds of behaviour.

The omnipresence of the term “addiction” is no doubt due to a fashion effect, a linguistic phenomenon: we call ourselves “addicted” to anything and everything. The little square of chocolate that accompanies our coffee, the latest TV series on our favourite online platform, and so on. But this phenomenon should not make us forget that addiction is a real disease, that it has specific criteria and, above all, that it can be prevented and treated.

The term “addiction” implies that we are dependent on something, that something being a psychoactive substance, whether legal (alcohol, tobacco, anxiolytics, etc.) or illegal (cocaine, heroin, heroin, etc.). ) or illegal (cocaine, heroin and other opiates, MDMA, new synthetic products…), or linked to specific behaviours, such as gambling and betting, sexual activities, video games, shopping, sugar consumption or physical exercise, not forgetting the essential intermediary of all these practices and true psycho-affective addiction… the smartphone (the latest model of course).

Responding to addictions is both simple and complex. Simple, because you can often deal with it yourself: if you have a problem of loss of control over substance use, for example (drinking a little too much, a joint that has become a daily habit), you can kick the habit yourself. Using various tools to reinforce your motivation, changing your lifestyle, creating new habits, you can do it.

On the other hand, if you do not feel able to do it, or if you are facing particularly severe addictions associated with other mental disorders, it is best to seek help. In this chapter, we take a look at some of the practices used to prevent addictions, treat them and accompany the people concerned.