How does the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) describe addiction?

As a bio-psycho-social phenomenon: compulsive behaviour that continues even when it has serious negative consequences for health and social life, arising from individual dispositions and from social conditions, in people of every age and background.

The description comes from the Swiss National Strategy on Addiction (Nationale Strategie Sucht 2017-2024, extended to 2028). Its parts:

• Bio-psycho-social: addiction affects the body (Physis), the mind (Psyche), the person's social environment and their social integration. No single level explains it alone.
• Causes on two levels: individual dispositions (genes, personality, history) and societal framework conditions (availability, advertising, living conditions).
• Universal: it occurs in all age groups and regardless of social or cultural background.
• Core symptom: compulsive behaviour that persists despite serious harm to the person and those around them.

Why the framing matters ethically: if addiction were purely biological, only medicine would be responsible; if it were purely a choice, only the individual would be. The bio-psycho-social view spreads responsibility across the person, their surroundings and society, which is why prevention also targets markets, advertising and living conditions.

Go deeper:

• BAG: Nationale Strategie Sucht — the strategy, its goals and the extension to 2028 (German).
• Wikipedia: Biopsychosocial model — the general model behind the definition.