Addictions Treatment Perth
Addictions are a major issue Perth today with issues like the Meth crisis featuring in the press daily. The nature of the human condition is that we can become addicted to almost any process, substance or experience, but there are a few whose nature has in them the basis to bind us into an addictive relationship with them. Commonly we see and hear addictions to do with alcohol, recreational and prescription drugs, tobacco, food, work, sex, and the internet to name a few. Our Addictions Treatment in Perth works with addictions where we see humans as having “addictive personalities”, and so bring the addiction back to an issue within the person, often related to abandonment and resulting anxiety, that can be treated and overcome.
How Do I Know If I Have An Addiction
People with addictions find that it affects their thinking, their routines, and relationships, as they start to think obsessively about the thing they are getting addicted to, and spend more time and resources planning and getting that thing, at the expense of, and as priority over other responsibilities, people and relationships. The addicted person starts to only feel good or get a payoff or reward by attaining that thing, and often gets irritable or feels bad if unable to get that thing they want? They then find themselves committing more time or resources such as money and when the addict tries to stop, give up, or focus on their old life habits and routines, they either briefly stop, fail, and then often resume, sometimes worse than before due to feeling discomfort, pain, emptiness without having that thing anymore ? Addicts start to lie to others and deny or minimise feedback from them that they have a problem or this new thing is consuming too much time or money.
They may find that their normal responsibilities, tasks or chores are not getting done at all or properly, and they may lose a job or a relationship due to this, with they or another person having ended the relationship. The addicted person may be covering up, numbing out to, or somehow avoiding painful feelings they do not want to face, but they now lack self control and sound judgement due to this addiction. The addict may now be facing negative consequences due to continued engagement with this thing, but the negative cost and impact fails to stop the behaviour. The addiction may become fully blown into a way of life where this thing stops being pleasurable and is now something that is serious, important, and which they invest great planning about, even though it may no longer be fun or healthy.
What Are The Types Of Addictions
Any object, experience or even process can become addictive but there are some of these which either are inherently addictive, or which have been engineered to addict users of them. They include:
- Social Media Addiction
- Digital Device or Smartphone Addiction
- Gaming Addiction
- Shopping Addiction
- Online or Internet Addiction
- Prescriptive Painkillers Addiction
- Alcohol and Drug Addiction
- Food Addiction
- Exercise Addiction
- Gambling Addiction
- Casual Partner and Swinger Addiction
- Sexual Addiction
- Prostitution Addiction
- Pornography Addiction
- Online Affairs and Cybersex Addiction
What Are The Symptoms Of Addiction
Regardless of the nature of the object, person, experience or process that is the thing one becomes addicted to, some common behavioural traits start to manifest, such as:
- A slide from casual use into frequent and more prolonged use, often required to get the same sort of feeling as first encountered
- Obsessive thinking and priority of tasking to conceive of, attain and consume that thing
- Priorities and choices shift toward that thing over other things once important
- Abandoning others to pursue that thing
- Inability to stop attachment and desire or use of that thing
- Loss of job, health, relationships due to attachment to that thing
- Shift in use of time and money resources towards that thing, even when that becomes risky or sabotaging of others or other things
- Lies, deceit, hiding about level of involvement with that thing
- Shame about that thing when windows of rational, lucid moments emerge
- Depression then elation, anxiety then pleasure cycles around the addiction
- Defensiveness and even anger or hostility if confronted or challenged on behaviour or usage of that thing
- Decline in health and happiness over time
How Can Our Addiction Counselling Help Your Addiction Recovery
Our Perth Addiction Counselling offers a safe and confidential place for anyone concerned about how they may be struggling with an addiction, to get support and learn how to get their life back under control, by learning about, and then implementing the steps to recovery from an addiction. Addictions are often a response to an underlying issue or trauma and so our experience in trauma treatments, our understanding in developmental and family issues and trauma dynamics, and the role of toxic shame in fuelling addictions, allows us to get to the root of why a person developed an addiction in the first place. Our Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Perth allows us to also work with addiction clients to heal trauma in the body and teach them to self-regulate such that they are able to better control impulses and triggers to initiate another round of their addiction behaviour.
