In my previous articles, I expressed the idea several times that addiction does not overtake a person immediately after several uses of surfactants. It is formed gradually, going through several stages. At each of them, it manifests itself differently. Today I want to clearly show how a person’s personality changes at each of these stages. For clarity, I will give an example using a man I made up named M. In my story, M. will drink alcohol, since this is the most “everyday” addiction, clearly manifested and familiar, unfortunately, to almost everyone. However, before we begin, I want to point out that these stages are also typical for any other addiction, be it drug addiction, gambling or compulsive sexual behavior disorder. - The onset of addiction is directly related to the emotional state of the user. Let's start the story about our hero M. He is 17 years old, and, relatively speaking, at his initiation as a student, he tries alcohol for the first time in a noticeable dose. Upon initial use, it experiences an incredible feeling of emotional uplift, freedom, joy, and ecstasy. It doesn’t matter whether he feels bad in the morning or not, it is fixed in his mind that he can get pleasure that is previously unknown to him, and in a fairly simple way - by drinking. In addition, with the help of alcohol, our newly minted student makes new connections and experiences his first “adventures,” which at that moment are new to him. This only reinforces the illusion in his mind that drinking is a good thing, easily accessible, and in the case of alcohol, also socially acceptable. The so-called period begins. “pink use”, when there are no consequences yet, and it is associated exclusively with pleasure. - The second stage is establishing the frequency of use, when it becomes part of everyday life. Our M. successfully completed, say, an entire university course. Even after the first passed session, he and his friends developed a “good” tradition - every Friday or Saturday, go to a bar or club and drink. The reason is simple - to “relax and unwind” after a working week. Drinking alcohol becomes a natural norm for a developing addict. Since this is now part of his life, he no longer hesitates to resort to him as an “assistant”. When there is a difficult situation in life: problems at home, at school, in relationships, fatigue, anxiety, etc. – our hero begins to drink alcohol. Then all his problems are put aside, in the moment everything is wonderful for him, and solving problems is already the job of a sober M. This is how the habit of moving away from an unsatisfactory reality into the world of illusions is formed. - The third stage is addiction as a lifestyle. Some more time passed. Conditionally, third year. Now the bottle is an invariable attribute of our hero’s life. Any of his actions is accompanied by copious libations of alcohol. You no longer have to wait for the weekend to relax and drink. Any event – ​​joyful, sad, anxious, exciting, neutral – becomes a good reason to drink. Denying his addiction, M. begins to adjust the use to any convenient occasion, justifying each individual episode. “Today was a hard day,” “I moved the closet, I deserved it,” “it’s a sin not to drink while watching such a movie,” “I haven’t seen my friend for a long time, I need to go for a drink with him,” and so on. At this point, the dependence has already been formed, and M. cannot control himself - alcohol has become his need. - The fourth stage is the dominance of dependent behavior. And now the university is behind us. And with it comes a full life. Consumption no longer brings joy and pleasure, only suffering with short-term respites. There is little left of the former M., only a physical shell. His whole life is subject to a simple mechanism - get it and drink it, and when it’s over - get more. Contact with other people is already reduced to a minimum, since it has no value at all, just like anything else except drinking. If the environment is preserved, it narrows down to a circle of those who are just as difficult