Laxatives are drugs, and people get addicted to them. One reason for this is the very common belief that without a daily bowel movement health is endangered. In fact, the normal range of bowel movements varies from as many as three a day to as few as three a week. People also become laxative junkies because they don't understanding how the drugs work and that there are side effects. Here's some information on this.
Most laxatives do their thing by increasing the amount water drawn into the bowel or stool.
This eases the passage of the stool or swells and softens the feces into a more movable mass. Some laxatives agitate the intestinal walls, causing waves of muscular contractions that expel the fecal matter. The side effects of these drugs range from belching, dizziness and fatigue to decreasing body fluids and salts and hindering the absorption of vitamins, minerals and medicine. In the case of stimulants, they can destroy the neurological and muscular control of the large intestine.