ABSTRACT
The causes of drug addiction are extremely complex and varied, and defining drug dependence is not an easy task. I will therefore refer to them in this chapter but will not attempt to solve in totality the many questions that these issues immediately bring to mind. Many of the youngsters who suffer from a compulsion to use drugs do so because of a powerful psychological dependency that pushes them towards drugs in order to avoid, regulate or run away from extremely painful and distressing inner experiences. However, the powerful psychological component of drug dependency should not make us ignore the issue of ensuing physical dependency, although I will not expand on this point as it is beyond the scope of this chapter. The question of physical dependency must be borne in mind what thinking about adolescents who are so seriously addicted to a drug that their craving becomes a major priority; in other words, these youngsters who are physiologically as well as psychologically dependent on their drugs.
