Addictions

There was an interesting programme on tv last night about addictions. I didn't see all of it because I was doing other things, but the premise of the programme was really the question of whether behavioural addictions (sex, video games, porn) were really addictions in the same way as the established physical addictions (cocaine, booze, tobacco). I've always been of the opinion that things like sex addiction were invented by Americans (sorry, nothing personal) to avoid responsibility.

I thought the most interesting comment came from a reformed gambler, now working as a therapist or something, to help people with their addictions. He said that something becomes an addiction when you carry on doing it despite recognising the negative consequences. I think that's a perfect definition. Here's my take on it; let's say that sex addiction is a real, medical (mental?) condition, akin to a physical addiction. The negative consequence of sex addiction might be that your wife says she's going to leave you because you can't keep it in your trousers. So, let's imagine you tell your wife, "I can't help it, I'm a sex addict". And let's imagine your wife says, "OK, I won't leave you then". The negative impact disappears in a puff of smoke. How do you know it's an addiction? Maybe you would have kept your trousers on if your wife had given you the standard ultimatum.

Or, let's imagine your wife tells you, "I don't care if you're an addict or not, keep it zipped up or I'm kicking you out". That would be what my wife would say incidentally. There are two ways to go. You either keep it zipped up and all is well, it wasn't an addiction after all. Or you don't keep it zipped up and the wife kicks you out. You could still call it an addiction in this case, but you have nothing to lose after you've been kicked out, so you're likely to carry on with the behaviour anyway because oddly, once again, the negative impact has been removed (she can't kick you out again).

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. You could say the same things about a cocaine habit I suppose. OK, more thought required.

They found the body of the tv presenter, Mark Speight yesterday. He'd hung himself at Paddington Station. That was a sad case indeed. He got bombed out on drugs with his girlfriend a couple of weeks ago. When he woke up he found that she'd passed-out, fallen into a bath of scalding water, and died. He was arrested, but released without charge. Then he disappeared. Seems he found a quiet ceiling void in which to end it all. Why the hell he chose Paddington Station is a mystery to me. They say he'd been there 6 days before anyone found him. How bad do you have to feel to get to that stage? He was 42.

It's amazing to think that one minute he had everything going for him. He was rich, talented, popular. Then suddenly something happened to change his whole world, and he winds up hanging from the rafters at Paddington Station.

Heathrow Terminal 5 is seldom far from the headlines these days. Today it was announced that 2 senior executives will be leaving BA as a result of the T5 disasters. Did they jump, or were they pushed? No one is saying. It's hard to believe anyone is still flying BA. I wouldn't fly with them if they were the last airline on earth. I reckon they were doing Naomi Campbell a favour when they banned her.

Oh well, must go, Chinese dumplings for dinner!