How Do I Know If I Have An Addiction
A key sign of addiction is that your thinking changes as a result of your behaviour. This may cause you to alter every aspect of your life including your routines or friendships. Addictions can cause you to forsake everything else in your life as you are trying to “scratch that itch”. Often feelings of irritability and negative emotions can occur if you are unable to feed your addiction. Because of the negative feelings that can occur, you may commit more time and resources in to your issue.
Why Do Addictions Occur
If you have an addiction (including drug and alcohol), you may often mask or numb your pain through your behaviours. This often occurs because you don’t want to face a painful fact or event. Because of this, you lack self control and sound judgement due to your addiction to resolve the issue. You may invest a great amount of time and energy to feed your addiction even though it may no longer be fun or healthy.
What Are The Types Of Addictions
People can become addicted to objects, experiences or even a process. Here is a list of the most common reasons why people may need to seek addictions treatment:
- Social Media Addiction
- Digital Device or Smartphone Addiction
- Gaming Addiction
- Shopping Addiction
- Online or Internet Addiction
- Prescriptive Painkillers Addiction
- Drug and Alcohol 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
- A slide from casual use into frequent and more prolonged use. The larger “fix” is often required to get the same sort of feeling as the first time
- Obsessive thinking and priority of tasking
- 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 an addictive behaviour
- 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, anger or hostility if confronted on behaviour or usage of that thing
- Decline in health and happiness over time
