The Anatomy of Dependence

Okay kiddo, so imagine your body is like a car. Just like a car needs gas to run, your body needs things like food, water, and air to keep going. But sometimes, people start relying too much on other things, like medicine or drugs.

When you rely too much on something like medicine or drugs, your body starts to change. It starts needing that substance more and more, just like a car needs more and more gas the longer it runs. This is called dependence.

Dependence means your body has gotten used to the substance, and now it relies on it to function normally. Just like a car would stop running without gas, your body might start to feel really sick or uncomfortable without the thing it's dependent on.

It's important to remember that dependence isn't the same as addiction. Dependence is when your body needs something to function normally, while addiction is when you can't control how much of that thing you take.

So, just like you have to take care of your car by putting in gas and doing regular maintenance, you have to take care of your body by giving it what it needs, but not relying too much on any one thing.