Personal demise has been the ruin of every grand and glorious empire. Yet Dr. Schaef's 1987 book When Society Becomes An Addict did not achieve national bestseller status―though it should have. This chapter is devoted to describing the surprising number of addictions, there being few of us with none of them.

        Leading the list are power and wealth addiction, and their associated addictions: compulsive spending, gambling, lending, and property acquisition. Then there are work addiction, compulsive competition, compulsive status seeking, and stress addiction, upon each of which a compulsive corporation rides. Sometimes associated is compulsive religiousness.

        Then there are sex and relationship addictions, each often associated with compulsive grooming, exercise addiction, and pornography addiction.

        Then there's television addiction which is usually associated with fame addiction (although the latter has long existed by itself). Associated are fame-spectatorship, sports-spectatorship, and information addiction.

        Then there is compulsive violence, often the result of a combination of power, alcohol, and sex addiction.

        Then there are the depression-related addictions such as shopping, compulsive comfort, compulsive lying, and travel addiction.

        Then there is carbohydrate addiction. In 1913, obesity rates in the US were below 5% but are now over 30%, with the majority of Americans at least somewhat overweight. Addiction to appetite enhancers may well prove to be the nucleus of many of the drug addictions because the human body digests food and drug in the same way.

        Only now do we come to drugs, by far the most widely recognized addictors. Each can overpower the human will and force its further consumption.

        The two most powerful drugs are nicotine and alcohol because they addict the most persons, cause by far the greatest total harm to health, and yet enjoy societal denial. Government avoids prohibiting their consumption and even depends on taxes derived from their sale.

        In the case of nicotine, the US government has only now legally classified it as a drug. even though most citizens and politicians are well-warned of its harm to health and has banned its consumption wherever it can. Such denial is further enabled by a codependent government.

        At the same time, many people use addictive chemicals to self-medicate their depression and stress. One might be surprised at the opium use in the US. It is shunned by most as an exotic drug, but actually its synthetic version is the favorite of those using tranquilizers, sleeping pills, and muscle relaxants.

        All of the above is accompanied by widespread denial of the addictive power of common substances such as the powerful caffeine-carbohydrate-fat cocktail of coffee and pastry which begins the work days of so many. This one goes back to birth itself. The mother's addictions to such things as caffeine and carbohydrates are passed on to their children at birth and then through meal preparation.

         Again in all of the above, addictions function in synergy, that is, in cooperation at all levels of system simultaneously. The net effect of the whole list is to cause in a society a subwaking state among its citizens, a society functioning as if it were a huge dysfunctional household.

        The following seem to consider the person as perverter of power.

        I believe that power is an addictor that overwhelms the will just as any drug. It causes people to think and act in ways quite unlike themselves. And it causes the power addict to be surrounded by persons dependent on power.  Dare we paraphrase Lincoln?  If we take habitual power-addicts as a class, their heads and hearts will bear favorable comparison to those of any other class.

        If power is indeed an addictor, then we should expect to find denial and other forms of impaired cognition, surrounding codependent decline, general increase in dose, etc.

        To paraphrase Bertrand Russell,  money is sweet; it is a drug, the desire for which increases with habit. The compulsive wealthy are addicted. Greed is a psycho-physiological dysfunction, not a character or moral defect. Most want to be generous, but because their self-control is impaired, they cannot stop needing more of their money-drug. They have great difficulty letting go of their substance: compulsive acquisition is usually accompanied by a hoarding compulsion. Webster's defines 'avarice' as: "Passion for accumulating and hoarding riches." Consider the following case from Vance Packard's The Super-Rich: How Much Is Too Much?

[Mountain Mover. When asked if he had set up a charitable foundation, a very wealthy man replied, "No. I did once, but they make you give it away. Instead he spent a large sum reshaping a nearby mountain top to suit his view.]

        Mountain mover was referring to the IRS rule requiring charitable foundations to give away six percent of their assets each year. The IRS did this because too many wealth addicts would set up a foundations, but could never finally give away any of the money.

[Profit = Loss?  News item says, "analysts were stunned by the forecast that revenues would fall to less than $315 million, off from $350 million last year source." Even when a profit is made, if it is less than last year's, then it is often considered a kind of loss ("Profit Warning!"). ASCOs often justify unemploying employees, especially those over 50, because they are 'losing' money. Stock prices then drop: "Investors pummeled shares of communications chip makers on Tuesday for the second day in a row as the market digested a late-day earnings warning...source."]

        An addicted society perpetuates the fear that one has little self-worth. Some maintain this belief through life, others overcome it through personal development. But the majority overcome it by becoming compulsive acquisitors, many of whom graduate to money the pure substance. By compulsively acquiring a substance that creates acknowledgement from others, one has a way of overcoming the dysfunctional belief that one has no self-worth. "He who has all the toys wins."

        But what is won but toys? Over time and by slow operations, the wealth addict becomes compulsive about acquiring other substances of value. The new toys must be have visible value: houses, cars, and diamonds are good examples.

        Daily life for the compulsive wealthy is flowered with compulsive loyalty from a surrounding wealth-codependent society that 'enables' money addiction. Everywhere the compulsive wealthy go. they receive royal treatment: smiles, compliments, favors, etc. And they pay less for food. 

[Case. The present writer in his student days had an apartment in an very affluent suburb just outside New York City. On his daily trips to school in Manhattan, he passed through poor neighborhoods and often stopped in food stores. Time and time again he found prices higher for the poor.]

        Impaired cognition is a common side effect of most drug addictions. The addicted person's very thinking changes. He becomes blind to many aspects of his addiction and a set of false beliefs collects around his denial.

        As addicted persons the compulsive wealthy tend to form a dysfunctional belief-system about money and their addiction to it, just as the drug addict does around his substance. 

[Money Myth 1. "I'm a self-made man."]  One never does anything alone. The owners and those nearest them at the top of a corporation derive their profits from the work of many people.

[Money Myth 2. " I started with nothing."] But nothing begets nothing. There must have been something: life's little loans or down payments from family and friends with money. Then there's Wealthy Welfare: the many tax credits and other tax deductions and exemptions, state and federal government contracts providing seed money, state and federal business loans at low interest, government grants and contracts. Then there are the most important forms of wealthy welfare: education grants, scholarships and student loans that gave them the education that made it possible for them to get rich in the first place. Any or all of the above are almost always involved in getting started with "nothing."

[Money Myth 3. "It's A Damned Welfare State."] The compulsive wealthy receive far more government assistance than the needy. Yet they resent money given to the needy and complain that it's costing them too many tax dollars. They are blind to the actual distribution of tax dollars , the largest portion of which goes to defense spending, hence to contracts for corporations.

[Money Myth 4. "Inflation is licked, so what's everybody worried about? (Editor of Wall Street Journal on Charlie Rose Show, 1992)."] Inflation compounds like interest and we are presently suffering under the burden of 80 years of compounding. And while present rates hover around 2.5%, there is Hidden Inflation everywhere: candy bars get smaller, the amount of breakfast cereal in the 'giant' size box is less than ever, built-in obsolescence and replace-only appliances.

Compulsive Property Acquisition

        Property ownership in America has become less than a dream for all except the rich. You must pay the mortgage— three times the cost of the house, state and local property taxes utility bills, and upkeep. You can lose a property for a myriad of reasons such a: to foreclosure by a bank for late mortgage payment, not paying the insurance, even for insufficient upkeep. A bank in trouble due to its own addictive behavior can, if the mortgage is a commercial loan. foreclose even if the monthly payments are up to date. Then there's the taking of the properly by the state for unpaid taxes even if the owed taxes are only a fraction of the property's worth or by eminent domain for other state purposes.

        Then there's your castle. You have a duty to tend and preserve the house. You must make it better than you got it by redoing this room or that, repairing this fixture or that. You must paint it inside and out every 4-5 years, and replace the roof every 8-10. The heating system needs servicing once a year and periodic replacement. Don't forget appliance maintenance and replacement, insect inspector, storm doors and windows, chimney sweeps, dog license, and the mailman's tip. And last but not least, there is the Great Outdoor: the lawn must be watered, fertilized, limed, insect controlled, and much the same for the foliage, all while the mosquitoes eat you for lunch while you cut the grass behind the polluting lawn mower.

        If you own an apartment house, most of the foregoing apply as well as other things such as the utility companies charging YOU for allowing them to install lines, pipes and wires to your building so that they can profit from the sale of electricity, gas, phone services to the tenants. They send fear-provoking letters to your tenants if you are late paying the utility bill. It takes months to evict a destructive tenant, during which time you lose the rental income. Upon finally leaving, the tenant sometimes trashes the apartment.

        Many states prohibit the use of a gun to protect one's property. These laws are usually quite a surprise to those who think they can 'take a stand on their land'.

        What exactly is a property right? Perhaps only the right to destroy it, except for insurance fraud purposes. "Property is the right to enjoy and dispose of things in the most absolute manner (French Govt., 1804);" "What we call real estate—the solid ground to build a house on—is the broad foundation on which nearly all of the guilt of the world rests (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851);" "If a man owns land, the land owns him (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860)."[Andrew's Aftermath, 1992. Armed hurricane survivors protecting their belonging in their shattered houses with self-defense (CBS-News).]

Dysfunctional Dollars: Inflation

        The spending power of the 1992 dollar is one seventh of its 1966 spending power, one tenth of its 1932 power, one-fourteenth of its 1913 power.

        The reason? Inflation. This economic dysfunction has made for real change in the quality of American life—for the worse. Inflation is the worst economic dysfunction of all. We will deal in detail with inflation in Chapter 3.

[The Bills 1. 1966 - 1992. American personal debt has increased seven-fold we try to sustain a level quality of life during a long-term decline in dollar spending-power.]

[The Bills 2. 1966 - 1992. Surveys continually show that money matters are the biggest single stress on the American family.]

[Free Time. Respondents to an LA Times 1992 survey reported an average of 2.5 hours per day of relaxation time compared to five hours in the 1960s.]

        The true purpose of work is to create playtime, but one of the high costs of compulsive wealth is funblock.

[Funblock 1: The well-off well-to-do are often chairmen of the bored. How 'well-off' are they? For some, play becomes work.]

[Funblock 2: Stressful Vacations have been the subject of a number of Hollywood films.]

[Indian Revenge? Geraldo Rivera interviews women who play Bingo every day ('Bingo Babes'). "It's what I do for fun," says one who plays seven days a week. Her husband works a second job to support her $300-a-week habit. She and her addicted friends charter a bus and make 15-hour round trips to play Superbingo on the Indian reservation. Yes, they play bingo all the way on the bus.]

[Big Time Risks. Betting on the stock market (options trading), junk bonds, risk capital, commodity trading.]

        "I'm so depressed I've GOT to go shopping."

[Shoppers Limited, a recovery support group.]

[Garrett and Bess. The high seems to come mostly from the act of buying. Once purchased, the items merely take up space. Their house requires much dusting with every room and closet jam packed with goods, and the garage is so full of things that their new cars stay out in the rain.]

[Health, May, 1988, lists ten warning signs of compulsive shopping; Cosmopolitan article entitled "I'm a Binge-Purge Buyer," July, 1992). See also USA Today, April, 1991, and Women In Business, Nov./Dec, 1990) for tips from counselors, self-help groups and other info on shopping addiction.]

[Couch-Potato Shopping Addicts. Guests on Jane Whitney Show describe their $2000 per month habit of shopping via cable-TV home shopping channels. In one case, the parcel post man is daily visitor and now a family friend. A room is filled with unused goods. She insists it is a gift room and says she'll give them as gifts. Her hsband shakes his head sadly (l0/29/1992).]

[lmelda Marcos's shoe-storage requires four or five rooms. When asked why she buys so many shoes, she said that as wife of a leader, she has to change outfits many times a day.]

[An Emir's wife fills his personal jetliner on a single shopping spree to London.]

[Future Addicts. Shoppers spend 29% more when they take their children with them (CNN Factoid, 09/04/92).]

[Average Credit Card Debt is $5000 per card. The compulsive shopper is driven to spend, with or with out the funds. As a result, some have severe problems with debt, especially with credit cards. Lines of credit are consumed like lines of cocaine sold to them by compulsive lenders.]

        Jackpot?  The new law allowed savings and loan associations (S&Ls) to become investors using depositors' government-insured money. It reversed centuries of banking wisdom and resulted in the biggest wealth scandal in American history to that time.

        Thousands of already wealthy investors quickly figured out that they'd be better off using their money to buy an S& L and then invest using the S & L's funds. If the investment went bad, they lost the depositors' money, not their own. If the S & L itself fell, the wealthy investors—along with the depositors—got their money back from the government because the money was insured. It was a "win-win deal", to say the least.

        The S&L Scandal impacted every person in America because it took a trillion dollars of tax revenue to replace the funds, steepening the decline in the quality of life.

[Little Old Lady. The present writer's two-dollar-a-week lottery addiction created many an opportunity to observe other lottery addicts. I don't know how often she does this, but I do know that on each of the several occasions our paths have crossed at the convenience store counter. I saw her buy thirty tickets for one drawing. I can only wonder, after seeing the Bingo Babes, how much she spends each week, or if her husband works a second job to support her habit.]

[May 11, 2000 from Reuters: $180 Million Lottery Winner. "I guess I'd like to start a new job playing golf,'' quipped L--, 47. He was considering buying his wife a purple Jaguar car but said that overnight wealth would not change his family even though they might buy more "toys." They elected to take the prize as a lump sum rather than spread it out over 26 years, meaning that they will receive a one-time payment of $90 million before taxes. The other winning ticket was sold in Illinois near Chicago. That winner has not come forward L-- and his wife 46 were introduced as the winners in the office of Gov. John. (Reuters, 05/11/00)."] This story is ridden with denial. The prize was $363 million. L--- & wife won half of it. The other half-winner is still hiding.  L--- apparently still wants another "job," this time playing golf. Is life a job? They took the lump sum, rather than more wisely taking it in 26 payments, as many a business man would advise. And then there's the instant appearance of the Governor, the secrecy of the other half, and the fact that instant winner was also sure it would not "change his family."] 

Yard Sale Junkies

[Article in New York Times (O8/27/92, p. C1) covers popularity of yard sales, fun for most but a problem for yard-sailing addicts. Better Homes and Gardens calls them "junkers" (Aug. 1992).]

        The high seems to derive from buying at prices lower than the things are worth. Or so the they think. They announce triumphantly that "it was a steal," that they "got a great deal." Likely, the seller made money anyway. But the junkies are triumphant in their illusion, and the things 'stolen' are collected in already crowded spaces.

        Junk food, junk mail, junk bonds, junk jewelry, junk sculpture, junk "disposal" yards, and junkets, are all part of American junk life. Compulsive junk making inevitably leads to compulsive waste disposal, making junk a very real problem for the surrounding codependent society.

        We might interpret filmmaker Bunuel to be speaking of the synergetic tendency of addictions to link together 

["How Golden Girl Rue Kicked Her Addiction to Men", article in TV Guide, 08/03/90).]

        A link of TV addiction and relationship addiction may explain why some viewers watch soap operas 4 hours a day. Some become so enmeshed with the characters lives they send presents to the TV station when a character has a birthday or gets married.

        Related to compulsive acknowledgement seeking, and possibly anorexia, also related are compulsive cosmetic use, compulsive fashion, and shopping addiction.

[Glamor Magazine survey finds that 75% of women surveyed think they are overweight and are unhappy with the way their bodies look.]

        We offer a provisional hypothesis: Anorexia Nervosa can be interpreted as compulsive grooming, and not primarily an eating disorder.

        Fame addiction and compulsive status seeking a major part of the American Dream. For those who are compulsive enough, the "sky's the limit" at work and in private life.

[Lily Tomlin: "How can you talk about yourself for twenty years?" Jay Leno: "Oh, I can do it easily (Tonight Show (09/04/92)."]

        Workaholism spreads through an economic system because of the synergetic tendencies. Worse, it depends on the idea that mere hard work equals excellence, making it a pernicious addiction indeed.

[Money Pit: Compulsive Fix-Up. Compulsive home redecoration and remodeling. The house is never finished for those suffering from a combination of work and shopping addiction.]

[Friends' Monica. Then there's compulsive house cleaning.]

[Book The Overworked American (1992) is a bestseller.]

["I'm An Exerholic." A 1990 book Fitness Without Exercise blames the dealer, i.e., it attributes the cause of exercise addiction to the exercise industry.]

        This compulsion is well rewarded by our economic system. It has synergetic links to workaholism and fame.

["I once had a discussion with a manager [at Microsoft]," said the Microsoft development partner. "I said, 'You could have stopped all of this if you just took Internet Explorer off the desktop. It would have shut everybody up.' And the manager went through this whole thing where he said even the smallest concession would destroy the company (eWeek , 6/9/00)."]

["Parents Keep Out!" Article in Newsweek (05/22/89) covers negative effects adults have on their children's Little League baseball participation. (See also. Sport, (Sept., 1989), p. 64.]

[Article entitled "End Nuclear Addiction" appears in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, (May, 1991).]

        Part of the American Dream is a comfortable couch and time to use it. Unfortunately it is possible to become addicted to comfort. In addition, compulsive comfort easily links synergetically to TV addiction.

        Compulsive fundamentalism derives from the power addiction of leaders and the powerlessness of compulsively loyal followers. "All public power proceeds from God (Pope Leo XIII, 1885);" "The Catholic Church is largely an image of a power structure (Norman St. John-Stevas, 1958)."

[Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a satire in which the hero refuses to seek the Holy Grail because there is no money in it.]

[Couch-Potato Church. TV-evangelist Pat Robertson is constantly asking for money. His show often includes interviews with financial gurus.]

[See Money and Power in New Religions, James Richardson (Ed.), 1990.]

        See Religion Corporation, Chapter 6 of this book.

        Worse, he cannot believe himself. Lies, big and small, are the grease, the oil of addiction and compulsive relationship. Denial, secrecy, and lack of trust in self and others are at the heart of addiction and codependence.

[Time cover story says lying is  widespread in America and seeks to find out why (Oct., 1992).]

[Lyrics of jazz tune "Blizzard of Lies" by Dave Frischberg lists the many lies of everyday life.]

[Hat Trick.] Jeno is ultra-rich and well known for his participation in international projects. Just before an office meeting, he puts on his hat so visitors will think he is just leaving. He has six jet planes but has never visited his grandson, always saying he has "to be somewhere."]

        Doctors and prescription-drug addiction—their own and others. Synergetic links: wealth, power, money, status, credentialosis and workaholism.

[Star dies from legal-drug abuse. His dealers: MDs. Other doctor-dealt addicted celebrities include political wives and athletes.]

[1493. Columbus introduces tobacco to Europe. For some reason, its effects are far greater on the Europeans. There is no Native American record of widespread harm from tobacco. Perhaps they didn't inhale it.]

[1650. Sultan Murad IV of the Ottoman Empire decrees the death penalty for smoking tobacco: "Wherever the Sultan went on his travel, or on a military expedition his halting places were always distinguished by a terrible increase in the number of executions. Even on the battlefield he was fond of surprising men in the act of smoking, when he would punish them by beheading, hanging, quartering or crushing their hands and feet...Nevertheless, in spite of all the horrors of this persecution...the passion for smoking still persisted (See Szaz, 1974)."]

[l650. The use of tobacco is prohibited in Bavaria, Saxony, and Zurich, but the prohibitions are ineffective. In Luneburg, Germany, the penalty for smoking tobacco is death (Szasz, op.cit.)"]

[1939. Cigarettes are illegal in 14 states (Szasz, op. cit., p. 199)."]

[Known Ingredients. Cigarette smoke contains an appalling assortment of poisons: hydrogen cyanide, the gas: used in gas chambers is found in cigarette smoke at 160 times the level considered safe by the EPA. Other poisons include benzene, outlawed for paint thinners but not smokers lungs: nitrogen dioxide at 50 times safe level: and tar, which form like pavement on delicate lung tissue. Other ingredients include pyridine—a dog repellent, and carbon monoxide. Each year, 53,000 nonsmokers—a thousand a week—die from other people's smoke.]

[Unknown Ingredients. Cigarette companies have been able to prevent the complete list of ingredients from being made public. A list of the remaining ingredients is locked in a safe at the FDA.]

[Nicotine. The Cigarette Experience by T. C. Schelling looks at the reasons it is so difficult for cigarette smokers to break their habit; comparison of nicotine to other drugs such as heroin; nicotine's addictive powers; contributors to nicotine's addictiveness. Reviewed in Science, (01/24/92, p. 430).]

[Light Up a Lite! But it makes no difference to smokers' health. Neither do filters.]

[1991. Study suggested that some cigarette ads are targeted at children (Newsweek, 12/23/91), but it was 6 years before Joe Camel disappeared.]

[1992. One in four deaths due to smoking. And although the percentage of people who smoke is lower, there are actually more smokers in America than in 1970 due to the rise in the population. More per capita cancer deaths.]

[Delivery system for nicotine—smoke, burning paper, and leaves—is likely the source of much harm. Nicotine the drug keeps you smoking. Coffee, cola, and aspirin are delivery systems for caffeine.]

        Caffeine addicts for life but is unregulated.

[Coca Cola originally contained cocaine. Hence 'Coca'. It was a popular over-the- counter antidepressant 1890 - 1915. Temperance groups urged it as a substitute for alcohol. But the public finally realized that it was highly addictive and wasn't a 'soft drink' at all. Coca finally made a deal with the US Govt. in 1917 to substitute caffeine, an equally addictive but less harmful stimulant drug.]

["Soft Drinks, Hard Facts: Research suggests kids who drink a lot of soft drinks risk becoming fat, weak-boned, cavity-prone and caffeine-addicted full text (27/02/01)."]

["The students may be junk food junkies, but the schools are hooked, too, increasingly dependent on the revenue that soda and candy machines bring in each year full text (27/02/01)."]

[NY Times article says it's "America's favorite drug and the most widely abused substance on earth (08/07/91, p. C 1)."]

[Science News (08/10/91) reports study which suggests that many coffee drinkers exhibit three signs of addiction: seeking it for its effects, experience withdrawal symptoms, and suffer adverse effects.]

[Caffeine Fetal Syndrome? Pregnant women drink coffee and cola.]

[Case. Talk-show topic one day is cola addiction. Some callers report drinking a dozen or more cans of cola per day. Noted publisher drinks a case of Pepsi per day.]

[Caffeine Politics: Boston Tea Party; Daughters of Liberty boycott tea (Szasz, p.187); The prince of the petty state of Waldek pays ten thalers to anyone who denounces a coffee drinker (Saasz. 1974).

        Is it compulsive overeating or addiction to fat?

[Lite Diet? All the while health-conscious Americans eat lite, per-capita consumption of alcohol. fats, sugar, and caffeine steadily rises. Apparently, Americans are simply switching to other sources of concentrated fats, e.g., salad oil instead of red meat (see Appendix 7).

[Alcohol inhibits burning of fats. When one drinks and eats fatty foods, one gets fatter better (See Time, 04/20/92; Readers' Digest, Aug.. 1992)]

[Most pregnant women take sugar every day. Hypoglycemia is widespread, and hereditary. Is there a connection? Fetal Sugar Syndrome?]

[Dysynergy. Cigarettes and coffee are heavily consumed at recovery support-group meetings. Founder of A. A. died of smoking-related disease.]

       The local bar or pub is an addiction supermarket, "the place where everybody knows your name." And your addiction. Nearly all harmful substances are available there: alcohol, cigarettes, high-fat foods, sugar, coffee, and many combinations thereof. Sometimes illegal drugs are available too. Waitresses and bartenderesses, many chosen for their youthful figures, are utterly vigilant in filling your empty glass, always asking if you want another. The drink glasses are shaped and weighted to make you think you get more for your money. The cone-shaped martini glasses, for example, hold far less than you think. The snacks are salted and peppered to increase thirst, but the last thing they'll offer you is water, except when it is bottled and they can charge alcohol prices for it. Some pubs have video games, pool tables, etc., for informal gambling. At the bar are relationship addicts, love addicts, sex addicts, compulsive liars, sports addicts, sports-TV addicts, and "Whatever!"

© 2000 by danmahony.com