We all exhibit habitual behavior, such as looking out before stepping into the road, but if such behavior loses rationality and upsets our day to day existence and ability to function, it can be called compulsive. What is compulsive behavior? Compulsive behavior gives respite from inappropriate anxieties. Acting compulsively neutralizes the anxiety. The urge to alleviate or escape anxiety, and feelings of apprehension is what lies behind the compulsive action. The anxiety can be due to obsessions: just as when perpetual fear of bacteria and germs leads to ritual, compulsive hand-washing. Compulsions can also be triggered unknowingly such as when nail biting without being aware of it. Common compulsions are counting, cleaning, rearranging and checking things more than once just to be sure. If the compulsions get out of hand as when needing to make sure the door is secured ten times every time you go out, the behavior wastes time, disrupts normal daily routine, and may have become a compulsive disorder. What is an obsession? Obsessive thoughts are the doubts and worries that cause distress and anxiety. The obsessive thoughts are the roots of the compulsion. Compulsive acts stop the anxieties for a while until they increase and need to be alleviated yet again. To give an example, it may be that my obsession is going to the gym as often as I can, but if I'm training to join in a sporting event, my going to train stems from a beneficial mental process. If my obsession for attending the gym is rooted in emotion, to alleviate emotional distress, and I'm always focusing on exercising and feel anxious and distressed if I cannot get to the gym, then I have become obsessive. This obsession has to be alleviated by attending the gym, which is now a compulsive act. Compulsion is the acting out of the obsession, allowing a brief respite from the anxiety or emotional stress. What is an addiction? Addiction usually relates to substance dependence evidenced by inability to stop in spite of physiological damage. Tolerance to the drug and abstinence syndrome are two of the criteria for addiction. Addiction is a compulsion basically indulged in for pleasure-seeking. Actually, neurologists have said that any process that activates the brain's pleasure centers can be said to be addictive. For this reason, addiction can also refer to such habits as excessive gambling and overeating, for example. Though perhaps not thought of as addictions, and sometimes classed as impulse-control disorders, withdrawal effects can arise if impulsive habit cannot be performed. Compulsive behaviors and addictive behavior show similarities since they all involve shortcircuiting of the reward pathways in the brain. The impulsive habits serve as a temporary means of relieving anxiety and tension. Each of us is hardwired for addictive behavior that may be set off by behavioral and social circumstances. Specialists approach those with problems accordingly, but to prove beneficial any approach has to broach the underlying causes of the anxiety that is behind the addictive behavior.