The word addiction comes from the Latin word addictus which means being a slave to or bound to, to devote, sacrifice, sell out to.

In the Roman law, an addiction was a person that became enslaved through a court ruling.

This Latin definition gets support from the ancient myth of Addictus. The myth tells the story of a slave who is set free from his master but became so used to his chains, that he wandered the land with his chains still attached even though he could have removed them at any time.

What is an addict?

Someone exhibiting a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behaviour, or activity a drug addict, an alcoholic, a food addict, a gambling addict etc.

The modern definition of addiction is a “persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful.” While the modern and Latin definitions are quite different, a connection can certainly be drawn between the two.

This story of course can be seen as a metaphor for the modern definition of addiction as we know it today. Because an addict becomes tolerant to the drugs they use, they become a slave that doesn’t recognize their own freedom.

So an addiction is used like a sticking plaster to soothe or cover over the pain and suffering especially caused by the trauma of early childhood.