Many a times we have gone through the debate that heroin is addictive but nicotine is not. Does anybody ever thought when do your habit turned into addiction? Is there any clear demarcation between the two?

This transformation is so swift that we are not able to understand it. But the changes in the behavior make it very lucid. Heavy drinkers have a habit of drinking a lot daily but true alcoholics show violent physical reactions too. A heavy drinker may object for depriving him of his drink but an alcohol addict may turn vicious.

Addiction evokes aggressive behavior in the absence of the substance but habit will lead to a complaining attitude. Habits are developed much earlier in life with their reason lost in our sub conscious. A gambler may destroy his life to any limits by expending his entire money in casinos.

If not allowed to gamble, he may just get bored as he has developed a habit of gambling all day.  But a drug addict, if not given his regular dose, will go destructive. There is no way in which we can make out when was something our habit and when it turned into an addiction. Addiction is uncontrolled continual involvement with something due to craving, despite excessive cost. But so is habit. It is also repetitive involvement in an activity.

Addiction can be good (Positive addiction) or bad (Negative addiction). It has both psychological and physical effects on the body. Psychological effects are when your mind urges for something thinking that you can not live without it while physiological effects are when your body craves for something to which you are addicted. This craving nature of addiction with loss of control is something that turns a habit into an addiction. Either habit or addiction, when associated with bad or inhuman behavior, is harmful and should be controlled. Any kind of activity leading to dependence on it and initiating violent behavior should be curbed before it goes out of hand. Later, it would be very difficult to bring about the changes.