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kifn2 t1_izymgrp wrote

I get that it could be similar to addiction in that he has a compulsion to do it that he can't resist, but I don't know if it's the same. An addict has physical withdrawals if they don't get their fix. Addiction withdrawals can be very debilitating. It seems to me that pedophiles don't have the self-control to stifle their compulsions. I do plenty of things that I know are bad for me, but I can and do also can stop myself.

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ackmon t1_izyo1pa wrote

Addiction can be physical or mental or a combination of both. Either way it is chemical based whether it's in our brain or the whole body. Both can be debilitating. But not always.
Example: I'm addicted to caffeine in the morning. It's mental but I get headaches if I don't drink my coffee.

It's not debilitating and is quite enjoyable to me. Why stop? As I said in my original reply... It helps to have an good understanding of how addiction works.

It's not simple and is most often quite quite complex as in pedophilia.

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Critical_Band5649 t1_izyzpy3 wrote

You can addicted to behaviors, or more specifically the good feeling those behaviors cause. Gambling is an addiction 2 million people in the US struggle with and there is no physical withdrawal.

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mopsyd t1_j02z93g wrote

I would argue that any compulsory repetition will become habit forming eventually, because life wants to find harmony with its environment, and in any context of life aside from modern humans, whatever you encounter routinely is a factor that needs to be adapted to in order to survive. I do not think that dopamine is required for this to occur. Cognitive dissonance, bias, and reflex alone suggest your neurons really want to use what they know already instead of unlearning and re-learning, which is why rehabilitation of any poor conduct is difficult. If you learned self-destructive or outwardly harmful patterns, that is what your brain knows how to apply and it wants to work with what it has just like any other brain.

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