Dependency is Not Addiction

I’ll admit it; I am dependant on three drugs, but I am not an addict. The first of these is clear-cut, fluoxetine. I take it, good, I don’t, bad. Very bad. The second is Abilify. Same deal. The third is slightly more complex, Lyrica. When I take it I feel as I did years ago, but if I don’t then I get terrible nausea. A lot of people assume this is the same as addiction. It is not! Dependency, to me, is when you need the drug. Addiction is when you want the drug. Furthermore it is possible to have both. For example some alcoholics both crave alcohol and experience withdrawal. It is also quite possible, and common when wanting to quit, to step down from addiction and dependance to just dependance. That is when you realize you want to quit, but still need the drug. I’ve sort of experienced this with Lyrica when I tried to stop due to side-effects. I managed to cold-turkey, but then came the withdrawal so now I am back on.