Again, I believe "loss of control" to be the hallmark of addiction. It is the behavior that takes over control (which is to say that the addicted person is out of control). The alcoholic hides booze here and there so he can get to it quickly and easily and UNSEEN. The nicotine addicted get very nervous if a cigaret is not in reach. The junkie is out looking for his fix. The "mechanics" of addiction must be a highly complex thing. There are, it seems, bio-physical potentials for such addiction. I remember reading that an actual gene for alcoholism has been identified. This affects about 10% of the population. If you are in that 10% and take that first drink, its "game over". The only thing you can do is never, under any circumstances, drink Etoh again.

But then you come up against the pyschological addiction. There is no identifiable substance external to the body. So maybe its cortico-steroids/adrenalin or endorphins that the person is "geting off" on. OK but why then anger? Why not skydiving? or boxing or any other thing that kicks up the adrenal output? Is this somehow like autism? A kind of mental masterbation? I would imagine that someone addicted to anger would become a master at pushing people's buttons to provoke conflict and receive their reward or pay-off. If they HAVE mastered this ability it would be hard to detect at first. But seen over a span of time the pattern of hidden agenda would become obvious then on to the next victim.

Even though the modeling of the complex mechanism is imperfect the overall picture of addiction emerges. You have a person who has a COMPULSION to behave in a certain way that provides him (or her) with a payoff which is apparently an altered state of conscienous.

The destructiveness of the addiction is directly related to the degree of compulsion. This may come about slowly or it may have a drastic rapidity. Disregard for social conventions comes about because eventually all things become subordinate to this cycle of stimulous (the action)/response (the payoff).

Anecdotely, I began to smoke cigarets when I was twelve and by the time I was eighteen I had a two and a half pack a day habit. I never thought anything of it. I smoked. That was all. I smoked. Without going into my personal history, I'll just say that I had a life altering experience that re-prioritized my life. It had nothing to do directly with smoking but as a result I stopped smoking, cold turkey! I no longer had a psychological need for cigarets but my body had adapted to nicotine. For weeks I would notice my hand going to my shirt pocket. I was amazed! I had no idea that I had become physically addicted to the stuff! I felt NO DESIRE to smoke, ever again but there was my hand going to the cigaret pocket. I was fascinated by the phenomenon. Eventually that passed too. It may be hubris but I know and feel within myself that nothing in this world could addict me. That is, with God's help.