Food Addiction Viewed Differently Than Alcohol

There is hardly a substance that a person can't become addicted to; indicative of this is that there are more than fifty different programs based on AA’s 12 step model. While there may be a number of different things a person can have a problem with, the fact remains that many people view some addictions as being less severe than others. A new study conducted at Yale University found that people view addiction to food less negatively than addiction to alcohol or tobacco.

Researchers asked more than 1,200 adults regarding their feelings about people with various types of addictions. People addicted to food were seen as more likeable and easier to relate to, being viewed with less anger and disgust, as compared with people with an alcohol or tobacco addiction.

People with a food addiction were less likely to be blamed for their problem than people with a tobacco or alcohol addiction, HealthDay reports . Those who took part in the study were more irritated, angry, and disgusted about food addiction if the person had become obese.  

The findings appear in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology.

Related articles

• People Seem More Accepting of Food Addiction Than Other Vices (news.health.com)
• Are 'food addicts' stigmatized? (medicalxpress.com)