Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 16/98) - Some crave chocolate about 3 p.m. each day.

Others just cannot think straight until their morning cup of coffee. Still more feel a compulsive desire to catch the latest episode of the Simpsons on television.

Addictions week Nov. 15 through 21 is the time for people to think about the nature of what an addiction is.

And, though mostly everyone has some sort of addiction, some thought needs to also be put on whether the addiction is innocent, such as the ones above, or harmful, such as a compulsive desire for intoxicants, gambling thrills or sexual activity.

Dennis Inglangasuk, who is the executive director of Turning Point, Inuvik's treatment centre, says he not only works every day with people who are overcoming addiction, but he has felt the destructive effects himself.

"Addictions are when a person gets caught up with something and doesn't have the ability to quit by themselves," he says.

"Some signs are when it starts to affect your job, if it's the only thing in your mind, if it affects your financial situation, your family life or you as an individual."

Just what a person winds up being addicted to often stems from that individual's unique set of experiences and personal history.

"What a person is addicted to is deeply personal," Inglangasuk says.

"It affects their whole life."

Inglangasuk says about five years ago he started to realize and accept that he had a problem with alcohol.

That battle with the bottle affected all the categories he mentioned as being destructive.

Still tough to discuss, Inglangasuk says he was able to work through marital problems caused by drinking, so those with problems need not believe that they are doomed.

But Inglangasuk says he still considers himself an alcoholic even though he has not had a drink "for some time now."

His solution, once he accepted his problem, was to seek out a support group in town, a method of resolution he advocates for others.

With the common addiction of smoking, for example, addicts have been known to break their habit a variety of ways including a nicotine patch, cold turkey or even slowly limiting the number of cigarettes smoked each day until they are able to do without.