Behavior Addiction

What Is Behavior Addiction?

Most people believe that addiction comes with an individual’s dependency on substances like nicotine, drugs, alcohol or prescribed medications. Behavior addiction falls out of this category which is as complicated as substances addiction. It is normal for a person to develop the traits of behavior addiction from a very early age. People who get hooked on different activities like gambling, stealing or watching porn and this becomes their behavioral addiction.

Some of the activities seem really natural to us, and it is hard to imagine that people get addicted to them. Somehow the addiction of these normal activities has a similar effect on our mind and body as of any other addiction. This engages a person’s mind and alternates the behavior of the addict. The signs of behavioral addiction can easily be noticed when we see the addict craving for that thing on which he is dependent.

The desire of that behavior becomes so strong that a person is inclined to do that no matter what are the consequences. When the addict is unable to engage in that specific activity, he/she is most likely to experience negative emotions, withdrawal and other symptoms.

In this article, I’ll explain it to my readers that what are common behavioral addictions in our surroundings, their symptoms, and how they are dangerous for an individual. Also, you will study possible tricks to get rid of behavioral addiction.

How Does It Work?

The behavioral addiction turns on the brain’s reward center and releases the neurotransmitters of mind that give you a euphoric feeling. When you do not get the chance to perform that activity, that gives you the ‘high’ experience, signs of behavioral addiction start showing up, you start feeling anxiety, emotional breakdown, and regret and in extreme cases, you may suffer from fatal illness.

This is a medical condition, not a temporary craving. You should not ignore the signs and try to get treatment before it gets too late.

Types Of Behavioral Addiction:

Following are some common type of behavioral addiction which can be experienced by any normal and healthy person:

• Internet addiction
• Gambling addiction
• Food addiction
• Porn addiction
• Sex addiction
• Shopping addiction
• Work addiction
• Exercise addiction
• Love addiction
• Mobile addiction
• Tattoo addiction
• Video gaming addiction

All of the activities mentioned above seem very common to us, but in reality, their excess can lead us to harmful behavioral addiction.

Signs Of Behavioral Addiction:

Understanding the addiction signs and the process will help you in discriminating between behavioral addiction and standard behavior that doesn’t fall into the category of addiction. Given below are the symptoms of behavioral addiction:

1. Jeopardizing your family, financial well-being, health and status to satisfy your craving
2. Reveling into behavior more than other people. Like, if you like playing video games, but you spend the whole time playing the games and not doing any other activity then you have the addiction
3. Using that behavior to manage the emotions and to feel normal
4. Unable to control the desire of doing that activity and spend all the time either engaging in that behavior or thinking about that.
5. Getting aggressive if you do not get to do the addictive activity
6. Feeling depressed if you cannot oblige your addiction
7. When you do not just enjoy that behavior but it becomes the part of your everyday life, and you do it as an obligation
8. Continue the behavior without caring about mental and physical consequences
9. Neglecting the real world, friend and family

Behavioral Addiction Treatment:

Behavioral addiction tends to destroy your well-being. Without realizing that behavior or activity can end up leaving us with severe addiction, we continue to do that for pleasure. We come to know the consequences when it is too late, and we are dependent on that behavior. But the good thing is that the behavioral addiction can be treated.

No one wants to get himself indulged into addictive behavior. This type of addiction may develop due to hormonal imbalance, compulsive behavior or genetic heritage. So, you do not need to take it personally and get help from a professional.

The Focus Of Treatment:

The main focus of the treatment is to teach a person affected by behavioral addiction to survive happily without indulging himself into that behavior. A person can suddenly leave the behavior, but in that case, the relapses are common if follow-up treatment is not given. Unlike the drug addiction, you do not need a detox treatment to treat this.

The course of treatment includes following:

• Individual therapy: It deals with understanding the nature of psychological triggers, stress or irritations that causes a breakdown after quitting the behavior.
• Group therapy: It is a 12 steps program that makes the person realize that he can overcome the addiction and he is not the only one dealing with this problem.
• Behavioral therapy: It enlightens a person about some tricks which are helpful in diverting the mind when it craves for that behavior. It teaches how to organize his/her life to overcome the temptation.