What types of addictions do we have?
There are a lot of adictions that we would never even think about. We can get obsessed with emotions such as rage, love or hate. We can get obsessed with to thoughts such as compulsive thoughts or fantasy thoughts. We can get obsessed with activities such as sport, games or any kind of hobby we enjoy. And, of course, we can get adicted to substancies such as alcohol, cannabis or cocaine.
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What is an addiction? |
Drug addiction |
People with an addiction do not have control over what they are doing, taking or using. Their addiction may reach a point at which it is harmful.
Addictions do not only include physical things we consume, such as drugs or alcohol, but may include virtually anything, such abstract things as gambling to seemingly harmless products, such as chocolate - in other words, addiction may refer to a substance dependence (e.g. drug addiction) or behavioral addiction (e.g. gambling addiction). This article focuses mainly on addiction to physical substances. In the past, addiction used to refer just to psychoactive substances that cross the blood-brain barrier, temporarily altering the chemical balance of the brain; this would include alcohol, tobacco and some drugs. A considerable number of psychologists, other health care professionals and lay people now insist that psychological dependency, as may be the case with gambling, sex, internet, work, exercise, etc. should also be counted as addictions, because they can also lead to feelings of guilt, shame, hopelessness, despair, failure, rejection, anxiety and/or humiliation. When a person is addicted to something they cannot control how they use it, and become dependent on it to cope with daily life. |
Many people do not understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. It is often mistakenly assumed that drug abusers lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop using drugs simply by choosing to change their behavior. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting takes more than good intentions or a strong will. In fact, because drugs change the brain in ways that foster compulsive drug abuse, quitting is difficult, even for those who are ready to do so. Through scientific advances, we know more about how drugs work in the brain than ever, and we also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated to help people stop abusing drugs and lead productive lives. Addiction changes the brain in fundamental ways, disturbing a person’s normal hierarchy of needs and desires and substituting new priorities connected with procuring and using the drug. The resulting compulsive behaviors that weaken the ability to control impulses, despite the negative consequences, are similar to hallmarks of other mental illnesses.
Drugs & The Brain Drugs react in the brain to change the way the body feels. The brain is the master control center of the body and it sends messages to the rest of the body based on the signals that it gets from chemical messengers, or drugs. Most of the chemical messengers are actually made in the body to do specific jobs in the brain. But drugs, which aren’t made by the body, are chemical messengers that can send the wrong messages to the brain, which then sends the wrong signals to the body. In essence, if the brain gets the wrong messages from drugs, you can end up seeing or hearing things that aren’t real, feeling things that aren’t there, or doing things that you wouldn’t normally do. Drugs & Heart Most illegal drugs can have adverse cardiovascular effects, ranging from abnormal heart rate to heart attacks. Injecting illegal drugs also can lead to cardiovascular problems, such as collapsed veins and bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves. Many drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and various forms of amphetamine, affect the central nervous system and can alter a user's consciousness. In addition to addiction, the side effects and risks associated with use of these drugs include:
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Sport addiction |
Throughout sport, exercise has been universally acknowledged as a healthy habit which can have many psychological and physical benefits for an individual. Exercise behaviour is now being looked at in a different light due to obsessive exercise being seen as a type of addiction. People who suffer with exercise addiction feel that exercise helps reduce anxiety about appearance concerns or becoming overweight . It has been found that exercise addiction raises endorphin levels, which in turn gives a person feelings of well being. However, this person will also be unaware of the serious health problems that can arise from this condition as they will have a decreased awareness of physical and emotional pain.
To understand the addiction in more depth it is important to look at exercise addiction in relation to other disorders that an athlete can experience. Much research focused around exercise addiction has been associated with eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia) and there is a large amount of research which shows exercise addiction as a subset of an eating disorder. As well as looking at secondary exercise dependence it is also important to acknowledge primary exercise dependence which is used to describe someone who is addicted to exercise for reasons associated with doing an activity. More specifically, we can find a lot of 'sport addicteds' in bodybuilding. If you have a bodybuilding addiction, you might do neither of these things. Instead, you work out each and every day, never stopping, and you push yourself to the brink almost each and every time you work out. If you can’t work out that day, for whatever reason, you feel anxious and upset. And even though you are spending a huge amount of time on your weightlifting, and you may be getting huge as a result, you may still not feel as though you’re as big as you’d like to be. This disorder is also known as as vigorexia. |