Not all the experts are as unsympathetic as Hodson. Mark Griffiths, a professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University, who has researched addictive behavior for 16 years, believes any activity can produce chemicals in the brain that give the same high as cocaine.
"We are living in the most addictive society the world has yet seen," he said. "Society has changed dramatically in the last few years; we're living longer than ever before, we have more spare time, more disposable income and there are more socially excessive behaviors in which we can indulge.
"The biggest impact is technology, which is deliberately designed to mesmerize the user and manipulate their behavior. It's exactly what happens with addiction: you become desensitized and end up needing more."
According to the government, at least one in 25 British people is dependent on alcohol, twice as many as are dependent on drugs, while almost one in four of us boasts an addiction to shopping, a rise of more than 6 percent in just five years.
More than 370,000 Britons are addicted to gambling, while 6 percent of 17,251 respondents in a recent online survey met the criteria for compulsive Internet use, with over 30 percent using the net to escape negative feelings.
Hodson is critical of the therapy industry for its open-door policy.
"It's the definition of addiction that is on the increase, not the numbers of those genuinely addicted to anything," he said.
"It is very distressing to be a compulsive gambler, but addiction is not the right word to describe what is, in fact, a conditioned or compulsive behavior."
Hodson also points to the tendency of psychiatrists to classify patterns of behavior or compulsion.
"The word addiction contains a meaning which takes away the sufferer's freedom of action," he added.
"It is a destructive word if misapplied. If you are told that you're someone who chooses to do things that are destructive, you have more hope of recovery than if you're told you have no choice."
Robert Lefever, director of the Promis Recovery Centre, which only treats those suffering alcohol, drug and food dependencies, agrees: "There is an addicted population and a stupid population.
"There are people who just need to pull themselves together and those who are so dependent on their drug that they're just trying to stay alive."
Dr. Austin Tate, medical director at the Priory Hospital in Marchwood, Hampshire, is bullish in his defense of the Priory's open-door policy.
"The word addiction has been so misused that it has lost its value," he agrees. "Like `stress' and `depression,' they've all become shorthand for `I'm unhappy.' It's become a social description and the medical profession needs to move away from it.
"But focusing on precise classifications is a waste of time: why make things difficult for ourselves by arguing about it?" he asked.
"When you get to the point of treatment, it doesn't make any difference whether something is a dependency or an addiction," he said.
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