Read what was published in the Detroit News:

Mike Hanly sits half-naked, his head bowed, transfixed by the tattooer's needle. The needle moves over his abdomen etching a flame-engulfed skull, a delicate rosy plume of blood billowing beneath the skin.

"This is my bar stool, right here, Hanly says with a tranquil nod, meaning the chair in which he sits inside a strip mall tattoo shop in Macomb County.

"I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I do tattoos and piercing for my addiction.... You go into your own little world when you're getting a tattoo.

There is no Tattoo Addicts Anonymous or similar 12-step program for tattoo and body piercing junkies. But there is mounting evidence that tattooing and piercing can be physically addictive, sparking a debate on whether people should be clinically treated to help them shake the habit.

Representative of an exploding trend that has seen increasing numbers of the young and middle-aged rushing to adorn themselves with body art, Hanly says he is obsessed by the thought of tattoos. The 22-year-old is tattooed in 30 places and pierced in 10 (including the genitals, nipples, tongue, lip and the space between his eyes). Dr. Charles Schuster, director of substance abuse clinical research at Wayne State University's Department of Psychiatryand Behavioral Neurosciences, says biochemistry may help drive Hanly and others to the tattoo parlor for repeat visits. "There are people who engage in this kind of behavior to great excess and there has been some theorizing about why, and this has a lot to do with how the brain is made, Schuster says.

When the body is in pain, the brain releases chemicals that work much like morphine or heroin. These "natural opiate-like peptides may be addictive, says Schuster, a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"It is at least theoretically possible that some people engage in piercing and other things because it does engage these pleasure centers. And in that sense it could be analogous to people who become addicted to drugs, he said.

Schuster said people who are gripped by such compulsive behavior also "may have psychological problems that life is not engaging enough. "If their lives are not particularly fulfilling, it is possible that they fill up their time with these excessive behaviors, he said. "And we see this a lot.... It gives their lives meaning, gives them something that at least makes them distinctive for a little while.

Frank Brodacki, a 21-year-old Macomb man whose girlfriend has designed a richly detailed Dungeons and Dragons-style fantasy tattoo for his leg, says there may be something to that. "It's pretty much that we want the attention more than anyone else, says Brodacki, who tried to hide his tattoo from his father until recently. It swirls up his right leg from the ankle to the knee.

Michael Jeziak, a former tow truck operator who now owns almost a dozen tattoo parlors in Metro Detroit, thinks the addiction is largely psychological. "You get a tattoo on your arm and people notice. Then you look in the mirror one day and realize there's nothing on the other arm, he says.

With a sly smile he also offers some simple advice to those who want to avoid the addiction: Don't even think about it. If you do, he says, "the thought will get deeper and deeper until you go out and get it.

Tattoo Danger Signs

You begin missing the adrenaline of the buzzing needle against your skin.

As soon as you get your paycheck you think of spending it on a tattoo.

You have a tattoo done and before you hit the door you pick out the next one you'll get.

You're able to talk about tattoos for an hour or more.

You go to a family reunion and the first word out of your mouth is "tattoos.

You find yourself telling people, "This will be my last one.

For more information on how to get professional help with tattoo, piercing or other addictions, contact the referral desk of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University, (313) 577-6463. Got the tattoo habit?

It may be an addiction.

For more information on how to get professional help with tattoo, piercing or other addictions, contact the referral desk of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University, (313) 577-6463.