Behavioral Addictions

Every day, hundreds of people experience the overwhelming effects of addictions. Individuals can become addicted to virtually any action or item. If individuals use addictive substances, there will be serious medical repercussions. This paper will focus on the idea of addiction through the fields of anthropology, psychology, and sociology, and how these fields have benefitted this prominent issue. Addictions are currently being researched by various social scientists in an attempt to fully understand their causes and cures.

It is believed that about 6% of Americans have a shopping addiction; of the 6% 90% are women. To a shopping addict trips to the mall become the main way to cope with stress, even when it is having a negative impact on the rest of their life. The addiction will affect their relationships and finances. (Omniomania: Shopping Addiction, 2010) It is a never ending merry-go-round; the stress from relationships and finances just reinforces the urge to shop more in order to feel better.

Modern society has failed bring the burgeoning problems of addiction under control. The word “addiction” was applied to drug use in the 20th century, but now it refers to a wider variety of non-drug hobbies, such as eating, gambling and sex. To treat the devastating flood of addiction problems, it is important to understand that addiction is not just a physical problem but more of a social and psychological problem. Dislocation caused by the free market society and the pressure from family can lead to addiction.

Merely compulsively engaging in an activity does not necessitate the title of addiction, even if the subject cannot quit of her own volition: there must be an element of negative influence that the habit has on her life in one way or another to be termed as such. The potential adverse effects of addiction are numerous and for any one addiction the detriment can be multifaceted. As addiction is generally discussed, one of the primary negative impacts mentioned is related to a person’s physical or mental well-being which can be harmed by the abuse of certain substances, such as

Mental health professionals are strongly encouraged to formulate an opinion about whether behaviors other than AOD use can be classified as addiction (Fisher & Harrison, 2103, p.288). When a person develop an addiction regardless of which form an illness and problem exist. The book mentioned that tobacco, alcohol and other drugs are not safe to use (Fisher & Harrison, 2013, p. 13). In every addiction such as, Tabaco, drugs, alcohol, sex and gambling can affect the individual and their families. When there is an age limited ton when an item has to be purchased, I believe that non-substance addiction should be in the category of drug and alcohol addiction. As human beings, an element can attack our bodies and that causes us to develop high

Many times it is difficult, but not impossible to understand that behavioral addictions when they find an open door in the life of the individual, this will harm the physical, social and spiritual areas, and without a correct clinical treatment or counseling these gradually will gain ground, making the situation slightly more challenging.

Addiction is like all behaviours “the business of the brain”. Addictions are compulsive physical and psychological needs from habit-forming sustenances like nicotine, alcohol, and drugs. Being occupied with or involved in such activities, leads a person who uses them again and again to become tolerant and dependent eventually experiencing withdrawal. (Molintas, 2006).

Addictions are strongholds and bondages that are more often than not difficult to overcome. The addiction holds a person’s well-being captive which result in unusual behavioral patterns. According to Gabor Maté and Arold Langeveld “addiction means be to a slave” relatively speaking when a person is addicted in reality they are a slave to the stimuli. Furthermore the outcome of addiction will result in behavioral patterns that will satisfy the addiction.

Behavioral addiction has long been overlooked and has not been recognized by either of the two internationally used diagnostic manuals of mental disorders until recently. Experts now believe that anything which is stimulating to an individual could become addictive. (1)

When it comes to the topic of addiction, most of us will readily agree that it is a miserable trait to possess. An addiction is a physical and psychological state of being that if not treated correctly could result into harmful wrongdoing. In The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, he recounts a story in which a fatigued housewife named Angie Bachmann lost all of her family’s assets, amounting to a million dollars due to a gambling addiction. Every habit has three components: a cue or a trigger of an automatic behavior to start, a routine the behavior itself, and a reward which is how our brain learns to remember this pattern for the future. According to Duhigg, “you cannot extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it” (63). Duhigg

Living hundreds of miles from my friends and family, having a smart phone has helped me to be able to share my life with them and vice versa. Social media sites such as Facebook, and video chatting on Facetime help to keep me connected to my loved ones. My parents can watch my children grow without missing major milestones and even though they may not be here in person, the interaction is still there. I have begun to notice though, that my small children are attached to my phone as well. In the car they constantly ask for a video to watch or a game to play so they don’t have to feel any kind of boredom and I fear this is teaching them to never know how to entertain themselves or how to use their imagination. We, the parents, should be teaching

Each year, there are more deaths and disabilities in the U.S. from substance abuse than from any other cause. In the United States alone, it is reported that roughly 18 million Americans have alcohol problems; 5 to 6 million have drug problems, and more than 9 million children live with a parent addicted to alcohol or illicit drugs. Drug addiction continues to be a growing concern, prompting medical and scientific research on a global scale into the possible causes of addiction and the various levels to which people become drug-dependent. This global issue continues to grow, prompting a rush to determine the cause in an effort to find a cure. Through research, doctors are learning

All types of addictions should be looked at from a philosophical and psychological point of view. Those in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and philosophy often compare their views to show the similarities of addictions whether they be substance induced or behavioral. “Behavioral science experts believe that all entities capable of stimulating a person can be addictive; and whenever a habit changes into an obligation, it can be considered as addiction” (Alaghemandan et al 290). Some addictions can affect people physically. Caffeine and nicotine provide prime examples. The body’s physical state becomes dependent on its effects and causes withdrawal symptoms without use. One of the main differences in behavioral and substance addictions is that behavioral addictions have no apparent physiological or physical withdrawal symptoms. It is not the physical body that is addicted, but the feeling that one gets mentally. The physical body is only affected by the

“An addict is a slave to his habit. The word comes from the Latin addictus which in Roman law meant a debtor awarded as a slave to his creditor.” (p. 85) To have an addiction is to live in a world of hopelessness. A person is hooked and there seems to be no answer or remedy. Mains list some of the most common addictions like alcohol, work, porn, sex, gambling, anger, spending, and even watching TV. What is the difference between addictive and compulsive behavior? “By contrast, compulsive behavior is more in the realm of an irresistible impulse to perform irrational acts.”(p. 86) Mains gives the examples of hand washing, making lists over and over, and house cleaning. Sometimes a bad habit can eventually become a compulsion or addiction. The author shows in the Bible with Abraham as having a compulsion of lying.

A behavioral addiction occurs when an activity that gives you a reward becomes something you can no longer control. Just like with drug abuse, a certain behavior can make you feel good and you’ll want to repeat it. When you are engaging in the behavior to the point that other aspects of your life suffer and you can’t control your actions, you have become addicted. One very modern example of this is smartphone addiction. Most of us are glued to our phones throughout the day, but there is a line separating the addicts from everyone else. Here are some sure signs that you have crossed that