This refers to addiction involving substance use, behavioral addiction. This refers to addiction that involves compulsive behaviors. These are persistent and repeated behaviors that you carry out even if they offer no real benefit. The types of addiction range from everyday drugs such as alcohol and cocaine to behaviors such as gambling and theft.
Some types of addiction are specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), while others are more controversial and have been identified by some addiction professionals. Video Games and Depression in Young Adults According to Science Direct, behavioral addictions are defined as “an intense desire to repeat an action that is pleasant or that is perceived to improve well-being or that can alleviate some personal distress. What classifies some behaviors as addictive is the difficulty that those affected have in stopping or reducing their participation in them. Some motivating factors for behavioral addictions include the perception of a temporary decrease in depression and anxiety, making it a seemingly logical way to achieve calm or happiness.
For example, gambling addiction illuminates parts of the brain similar to those of some drugs, causing a dopamine high for the user or player. Sex addiction affects the brain in a similar way to gambling addictions, and just like substance abuse treatment, joining a 12-step program can be a useful method of treatment. Addictions based on sex, pornography, or masturbation can endanger the person by complicating relationships or possibly leading to unwanted pregnancies or STIs. They may struggle to gain control of their sexual behavior, followed by shame or regret.
An inability to stop compulsions associated with behavioral addiction often indicates a possible addiction. Although these are the most common types of behavioral addictions, compulsive theft (kleptomania), love and relationship addiction, overwork, compulsive pinching of the skin and hair, and excessive use of television and exercise are also listed as behavioral addictions. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, behavioral addictions “resemble substance abuse addictions, in reference to the impact on the brain and its response to treatment.
People often struggle to resist urges or temptations to reduce or stop behaviors that may be addictive to them, provoke excitement before completing them, and provide pleasure while doing them. Areas of concern may include feelings of guilt or shame after completing the activity. This is similar in people who abuse harmful chemicals. Substance abusers have extreme difficulty resisting the urge or temptation to use the drug and may experience pleasure from using it.
As a result, you may feel embarrassed after completing the activity and may lie about it or hide it. Because behavioral addictions affect the part of the brain responsible for rewards, people can experience effects similar to what they would feel if they were abusing a substance. This can translate into problematic relationships, impulse control challenges, obsessions, distractions, and financial challenges. Treatment methods used for substance abuse may be helpful in treating behavioral addictions.
Twelve groups of steps may be helpful, along with medications for anxiety or depression, if they are at the root of behavioral addiction. Additional treatment methods, such as meditation, SMART recovery strategies, and counseling, can benefit people who may have problems with a behavioral addiction. For gambling or shopping addiction, people can suffer serious financial consequences. This can become a problem if they try to use loved ones for additional financial support.
In addition, they can maximize credit cards and incur debt due to their addiction. For cases of video game and phone addiction, addictive patterns can hinder close relationships. Individuals can be distracted, using it as an escape from the challenges of daily life to fix loneliness, stress, or fill other gaps. People with concerns can seek treatment by contacting a treatment provider.
While controlling compulsions may seem impossible, there are several options for recovery. The first step is to recognize the challenges that behavioral addictions can cause, along with the need for help. This can help you take control of your life. Support is available after taking the first step toward recovery.
Contact a treatment provider today and start your journey. Most people engage in hundreds of different behaviors throughout the day, each with its own consequences. In general, people make decisions about what behavior to adopt next with relative consideration and with the intention of improving their experience. For example, if you're hungry, you can choose to have a healthy snack that not only satisfies your hunger, but also gives you energy to continue your day.
However, a person living with a food addiction may choose to eat even when they are not hungry and may overeat unhealthy foods in large quantities. While this is an unhealthy option, many people can and will overeat, or will eat when they aren't hungry, and don't struggle with food addiction. What support groups are there for behavioral addictions? For almost every type and style of behavioral addiction, there are both online and in-person support groups ranging from informal meetings to formal therapy sessions that are designed to create a base of support for people who want to learn to live without engaging in behavioral addiction. For example, for people living with a food addiction, some support group options include Food Addicts Anonymous and Food Addicts in Recovery.
Gambling addicts can find support in the SMART Recovery Gambling Addiction group or Gamblers Anonymous. Similarly, those living with a shopping addiction can attend Shopaholics Anonymous meetings, and those living with a sex addiction can find support in Sex Addicts Anonymous groups. Constantly defying your odds? Of all behavioral addictions, gambling addiction is the one that most closely resembles drug and alcohol addiction. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) classifies gambling disorder as an addictive disorder.
Studies show that gambling addictions illuminate the same areas of the brain as drug addictions, and treatment for gambling disorder is generally included in the same type of therapy settings as drug and alcohol abuse. Can't you keep your hands off that game console? Research shows that video game addiction is more common in boys and men, and one study even found that up to 1 in 10 video players between 8 and 18 years old are gamers out of control (and games start to look more like reality than fantasy). If you're addicted to video games, treatments include counseling and behavior modification. Behavioral science experts believe that all entities capable of stimulating a person can be addictive; and every time a habit becomes an obligation, it can be considered as an addiction.
Researchers also believe that there are a number of similarities, as well as some differences between diagnostic symptoms of drug addiction and behavioral addiction. The purpose of this study is to consider different approaches in this field. Changing behaviors such as gambling, drug abuse, computer games or chatting and surfing the Internet, from habits to mandatory behaviors, can be considered as the development of addiction. For example, some clients recovering from heroin addiction report feeling nostalgic for the “cooking, needle loading and tying” process that comes before the real high.
The types of addiction seen with drug use are defined in the DSM-5, but it uses the terms substance abuse and substance dependence. People with a behavioral addiction will constantly seek the thrill or surge of endorphins through frequent and increased activity. Someone participating in activities such as gambling and video games doesn't necessarily indicate an addiction. When most people hear the word addiction, they think of dependence on a substance, such as drugs or alcohol.
Addictions are characterized by craving, compulsion, inability to stop using the drug, and lifestyle dysfunction due to drug use. The type of addiction doesn't really matter as much as the underlying problem, causing the patient to pursue that pleasurable feeling while incurring adverse consequences. Personalized treatment plans allow people suffering from addiction to ease withdrawal and learn to live without their addictions. These adverse effects with the development of addiction can include financial problems, destructive behaviors, relationship problems, family conflicts, and the negative feelings that arise as a result of these things.
Behavioral addiction, like Internet addiction, is similar to drug addiction, except that in the former, the individual is not addicted to a substance, but to the behavior or feeling provoked by the relevant action. . .
Leave Reply