Modern psychology does not recognize the reality and danger of idolatry. But it does speak volumes on the topic of addiction. In the fall Adam and Eve became attached to something other than God. Any attachment to a created thing is an addiction and, ultimately, an idolatry. Tolerance means that one requires more and more of the object of attachment to be satisfied.
Withdrawal symptoms are the pains experienced on deprivation of the chosen object.
Self-deception indicates the addict's inability to recognize addiction. Loss of willpower describes the difficulty of escaping from the addiction, and distortion of attention means there is no room left for attachment to God when one is attached to something in the creation. May holds that these characteristics, glaringly obvious in alcoholism, are actually present in all addictions and that we are all addicted in one way or another. Born with a deep longing for God, we have displaced that longing by attachment to something in the creation. Addiction is thus equivalent to idolatry and the two terms describe the nature of human sin.