Behavioral Addictions
Addiction is a descriptive term that commonly specifically describes the use of drugs and alcohol. Addictions, in general, however, are actions of any sort that produce non-survival results, yet we nevertheless repeat the actions because we can’t control our behavior. Behavioral addictions can cause grief and damage to people’s lives. There are medications and behavioral treatments available to help curb all sorts of addictive behaviors.
Some types of addictions, like shopping addiction, for example, can be widely accepted and go undiagnosed for extended periods in many people. If a person feels they spend too much money at the arcade but can’t seem to stop on their own, they are indeed experiencing a behavioral addiction. They are an appropriate candidate for addiction treatment.
Drug and Alcohol Addiction
According to About.com’s explanation of how closely related substance use addiction is to behavioral addiction, drug and alcohol addiction can be considered types of behavioral addictions. There is more risk involved, like when a court has taken an individual in for a ticket and forced them to receive drug and alcohol treatment under possibly punitive terms. Drug and alcohol addiction treatment can get a patient back to not abusing their beverage of choice and can even get people to quit drinking for the rest of their life. Many clients will stop abusing alcohol, and there are 12-step programs available for people who drink too much. Alcoholism is responsible for many serious diseases, including cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. People can seek refuge from alcoholism and a number of its adverse effects.
Substance Addiction
Many of the treatments that are available for substance addiction are advertised for behavioral addictions as well. The same related Internet search yields results from drug addiction and substance addiction programs. Drug addiction programs are common for individuals to recover from their addictions. Clients can sometimes choose the substance addiction program of their choice even when referred by the local court system.
Shopping Addiction
Shopping addiction is a behavioral addiction that affects around 10 percent of the population. Shopping addiction is an easy addiction to get caught up in because major store brands want people to buy things, and so they advertise highly. Too much purchasing power can create an addictive behavioral problem that is alright by most people’s standards. Shopping addiction can happen without the individual recognizing it. When there is common stress in an addicted shopper’s home, family, or business life, they will go out and start shopping as part of their remedy to relieve the stress in their lives.
Shopping addiction and other addictions can harm a person’s life. Because shopping addiction doesn’t sound like a problem to some people, these behavioral addictions can cause other dramatic events if not treated. A shopping addiction can be severe because it can leave an individual in tremendous debt to the point that they cannot pay their household and other important bills. Gambling addiction is another behavioral addiction that can take large amounts of money and value out of people’s lives.
Video Game Addiction
Video game addiction is another addiction that hits under 20 percent of the population. In some cases, that is almost one-fifth of the U.S. that can have relentless video game addiction. Some of the negative side effects of video games can include violence. Violence is often depicted in video games, often to the point of affecting a person’s mental well-being. Nobody wants to see violence, and violence fills more jail and prison populations with unhappy inmates. Treatments for video game addiction can also include psychology. People that suffer from video game addiction spend too much time dealing with video games, and they forget how to deal with life. They lose touch with how to deal with people in daily life. Social interactions involve less skill. More time is spent playing the computer than remembering talking to your friends, clients, or co-workers. “Detached” is how addicted video gamers are described, but they can decide to seek treatment and get back in the real world.
Symptoms of an Addiction
Unhealthy behavioral addictions such as gambling addiction, internet addiction, pornography addiction, sex addiction, shoplifting addiction, shopping addiction, smoking addiction, sugar addiction, video game addiction, and work addiction can be described as too much time spent doing one thing. There are amounts of skills not learned elsewhere in other activities. When a person gets too heavily into shopping, gambling, video games, etc., he/she can lose touch with other aspects of daily living. Other aspects of daily living become more detached, and too much time is spent with the addiction. Symptoms of addiction can include running up bills unreasonably, taking out too much time for the addictive activity, avoiding outside contacts, and not connecting with the people outside anymore. Generally, too much priority is given to the addictive activity, and other aspects of daily living go down in value and acceptance. Other aspects of the addicted person’s life may suffer, including appearance and responsibilities. If you are a person that is beginning to lose contact with the outside world because of one or two activities that take up too much time, you may have behavioral addictions. These addictions can qualify a person for treatment. Many different treatment programs can help with all types of behavioral addictions. For more information call our addiction treatment specialists at (702) 904-8845.