photo by: *etoile*

It has been a while since I wrote my last article. It has been a while since I wrote anything longer than simple chat lines on IM and answers to comments. Hopefully, I haven’t lost whatever writing skills I managed to develop since the starting of this project.

The period in which I’ve been inactive has represented a short break from blogging, because even if I love doing this, I can only do it properly for so long. Now that the break is over, it is time to man the cannons.

In this article, I would like to say a few words about addiction; how to avoid developing one, how to figure out if you have one, how to isolate it and how to get rid of it.

For the purpose of this article, I will define an addiction as being a recurring compulsion by an individual to repeatedly engage in some specific activity, despite possible harmful consequences to the individual’s health, mental state or social life.

Addictions

Addiction is a terrible thing. You wake up and say “I’ll only have one cup today” through a groggy mind. Then that first sip hits your veins like a freight train.

Quitting an addiction is best done cold turkey… and you are beyond that point today… so you give in. You have that second cup, quickly followed by the third.

Before you know it, you’ve lost count, the coffee pot is empty, and you break into a cold, nervous sweat.

Without even thinking, you start brewing another pot, while saying to yourself “I’ll only have one more pot today”… and you hate the fact that you are lying to yourself. Addiction is a terrible thing.

sponsored links

In theory, addictions can be derived from any rewarding behavior. So, in theory, you could get “hooked” on pretty much anything that makes you feel good, empowered, in control, free, et cetera. You could be addicted to, let’s say, reading motivational books or playing golf.

Addictions may have two forms:

  1. Physical dependencies;
  2. Psychological dependencies.

As their names suggest, the physical dependency has to do with a dependency of the biological system (ie. opiates, nicotine) while the psychological dependency has to do with a dependency of the mind (ie. gambling, shopping).

Often times, addictions as a whole include both of the two forms of dependency, in different proportions. Physical dependencies include some form of psychological dependency, and vice versa.

How to figure out if you have an addiction?

Although personal “diagnostics” might not represent anything more than guesses, it is important to be aware of the reality of your life. If you believe all is fine when it is not, you are slowly dragging yourself down. That is especially true since addictions can lead one into ignoring or neglecting important aspects of life such as family, friends, work, et cetera.

The simplest way to figure out whether you have an addiction or not is to think about an activity that makes you feel rather bad or dirty after engaging in it, or an activity that you know is rather destructive but you are still doing it. If you have one such activity, the next step is to try and quit it. If at this stage you encounter withdrawal symptoms (such as cravings, irritability, insomnia, depression, anorexia, anger, irritation, etc), you most certainly are addicted to that activity.

Of course, it is easy and comfortable to believe that we are addiction free, but given the destructive nature of addictions, it is safe to have a hard look at ourselves from time to time and to prevent any dependency from growing too strong.

As a MMORPG player and almost an addict, I can assure anyone that the process of developing an addiction is often times so smooth that one doesn’t have any idea that he is going in that direction. Seriously, who worries about developing an addiction when drinking the first cup of cofee?

To avoid an addiction, other than avoiding known addictive activities, it is useful to analyze yourself from time to time to see if you have slipped in some dependency.

How to get rid of an addiction?

The recommended way, of course, is to consult a trained specialist.

However, in case you have an addiction that is still in its infancy, quitting that activity and replacing it with something pleasant and productive, as fast as possible, without becoming romantic about the consequences of quitting that activity, should solve the problem.

Most addictions are harmless and easy to quit at the start, the harmful consequences growing exponentially in time.

Addiction to “feel-goodism?”

One of the things which guarantees large repeating numbers of visitors to sites promoting positive thinking (and things derived from it), is the dependency that they create.

They tell people what they want to hear, thus making them feel better, stronger, smarter, more capable, more certain of themselves, more confident, etc.

The applicability of such information makes for another topic, but the fact that one is repeatedly rewarded (with good feelings) for reading those ideas can turn into an addiction; not necessarily an addiction to a particular site, but to the ideas promoted. And as all addictions, addiction to feel-goodism is destructive too.

PS: I’m currently in the process of curing my infant MMORPG addiction.



Liked this post? Subscribe for updates via RSS or email:
  • http://www.wellbeingandhealth.net Evan

    It can help to get specific with addictions.

    What is it that I get from doing this? (For people who feel bad about themselves this can be feeling bad.)

    How can I get it another way?

    This can help to find specific other things to do.

    Hope this makes sense and is useful.

  • http://www.wellbeingandhealth.net Evan

    It can help to get specific with addictions.

    What is it that I get from doing this? (For people who feel bad about themselves this can be feeling bad.)

    How can I get it another way?

    This can help to find specific other things to do.

    Hope this makes sense and is useful.

  • http://armannd.com/ Titus-Armand

    Thank you for sharing your ideas, Evan.

    Obviously, getting specific helps, to some degree. Now the problem is that it is not that easy to figure out what exactly you get from an addiction. Often times there are multiple aspects that need to be identified and analyzed, making it difficult for an untrained individual to do it. Even among trained specialists there are some who ignore the psychological dependency of an addiction (in the case of physical addictions).

    “How to get it another way?” can backfire, in the sense that one probably doesn’t need what the addiction offers in the first place. Adding the fact that replacing it depends on having the first question right (“what do I get?”) makes it even more “dangerous.” One might end up replacing something that didn’t need replacing, and we all know the saying, “if something works, let it work.”

    I believe that if an addiction is in any other stage other than infancy, a specialist is a must. Infant addictions can be cured easily, with some willpower and help from friends (to get you to do something that you enjoy doing, together, other than the addictive activity).

  • http://armannd.com/ Titus-Armand

    Thank you for sharing your ideas, Evan.

    Obviously, getting specific helps, to some degree. Now the problem is that it is not that easy to figure out what exactly you get from an addiction. Often times there are multiple aspects that need to be identified and analyzed, making it difficult for an untrained individual to do it. Even among trained specialists there are some who ignore the psychological dependency of an addiction (in the case of physical addictions).

    “How to get it another way?” can backfire, in the sense that one probably doesn’t need what the addiction offers in the first place. Adding the fact that replacing it depends on having the first question right (“what do I get?”) makes it even more “dangerous.” One might end up replacing something that didn’t need replacing, and we all know the saying, “if something works, let it work.”

    I believe that if an addiction is in any other stage other than infancy, a specialist is a must. Infant addictions can be cured easily, with some willpower and help from friends (to get you to do something that you enjoy doing, together, other than the addictive activity).