Addictions & Dependencies
If the addiction or addictive behaviour fulfills a valuable need, you may find yourself increasingly relying on it. You may use your addiction or undertake an addictive behaviour to calm or energise yourself or make you more confident. You may start abusing substances to relieve pain, cope with panic attacks, or improve concentration at school or work.
If you are using your addiction or undertaking an addictive behaviour to fill a void in your life, you’re more at risk of crossing the line from casual substance use or casual behaviour to substance abuse or addictive behaviour. To maintain a healthy balance in your life, you need to have positive experiences and feel good about your life without any substance use or without the addictive behaviour.
Examples of Common Addictions
Smoking
Vaping
Drinking
Marijuana
Pornography
Eating
Gambling
Shopping
Risky Behaviour
Video Games
Sex
Internet
Work
Exercise
How Addiction Works
The following provides a general understanding of how drug abuse or undertaking the addictive behaviour affects your functioning:
The addiction or the addictive behaviour causes a rush of the hormone dopamine in your brain, which triggers feelings of pleasure. Your brain remembers these feelings and wants them repeated.
When you become addicted, the addiction or addictive behaviour takes on the same significance as other survival behaviours, such as eating and drinking.
Changes in your brain interfere with your ability to think clearly, exercise good judgement, control your behaviour, and feel normal without the addiction or undertaking the addictive behaviour.
No matter what you are addicted to, or what addictive behaviour you undertake, the uncontrollable craving to use grows more important than anything else, including family, friends, career, and even your own health and happiness.
The urge of the addiction is so strong that your mind finds many ways to deny or rationalise the addiction. You may drastically underestimate the quantity of the addictive substance you’re taking, or how often you undertake the addictive behaviour, how much it impacts your life, and the level of control you have over your drug use.
Signs of Addiction
Signs to look out for which may indicate you need assistance with addiction, or an addictive behaviour are:
Addiction or addictive behaviour may start as a way to socially connect. People often try substances or undertake an addictive behaviour for the first time in social situations with friends and acquaintances. A strong desire to fit into the group can make it feel like doing the drugs or undertaking an addictive behaviour with them is the only option i.e social networking.
Problems can sometimes sneak up on you, as your addiction or addictive behaviour gradually increases over time. Having a social drink, or smoking a joint with friends over the weekend, or taking ecstasy at a rave, or painkillers when your back aches, for example, can change from using substances a couple of days a week to using them every day. As does the addictive behaviour from undertaking that behaviour once a day to undertaking that behaviour 24 hours a day - 7 days a week. Gradually, getting and using the substance or undertaking the addictive behaviour becomes more and more important to you.
As the addiction or the addictive behaviour takes hold, you may miss or frequently be late for work or school, your job performance may progressively deteriorate, and you may start to neglect social or family responsibilities. Your ability to stop using is eventually compromised. What began as a voluntary choice has turned into a physical and psychological need.
Eventually, addiction or addictive behaviour can consume your life, stopping social and intellectual development. This only reinforces feelings of isolation.
Contact Us
Addiction to a substance or to a behaviour is a complex problem that affects every aspect of your life. Overcoming these addictions requires reaching out for support and making changes to the way you live, deal with problems, and relate to others.