Why do people think the only type of addictions people have are to things like booze or drugs?
20 Jul / 09
pink1957girl asked:
There are lots of things that people can get addicted to, besides booze and/or drugs. Why do people discount other types of addictions? What other type of addictions do you think there are?
This is a serious question – I’m not being flipant about this.
The reson for this question is that people don’t understand the physical aspects of addiction to things like gambling or shopping. It may sound like a dumb thing – you just don’t do it – but it’s not as easy as that.
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Sugar is plenty times more addictive than any drug.
My father is addicted to sugar, my mother is addicted to stress; I have friends who are addicted to exercise, self-delusion, potato chips and yoghurt. I don’t know that we can get through life without at least one addiction. Mine is triple-shot short blacks. Mmmmm….caffeine.
people think of CHEMICAL addictions when they think of addictions… but there are MENTAL addictions as well…
Gambling is a mental addiction (though you could argue there is a chemical addiction due to the “rush” of endorphines)
Pot is actually a Mental addiction.. there is 0 chemical addiction of the body to pot (no physical withdrawals when you get off it)
things like that.
I don’t know what “people think” or why, but many people are aware that there are addictions to food, sex, love and relationships, gambling, chaos and drama, gossip, and many other things that become bad habits that interfere with healthy relationships, livelihood, and our Serenity.
Substance abuse has almost become an accpeted thing in our society because it is so widespread and so many people use it as a crutch.
People don’t understand how those who are addicted to things like shopping, gambling, partying (not the drugs involved) because they are activities and not substances.
Sure, most anything could develop into an addiction. Gambling, pornography, sex, money, caffeine, working out. . . Like you implied, an addiction can range in “severity” and often times it’s those “smaller” addictions that get overlooked and can even cause the most harm. Look at the men and women addicted to losing weight. People actually die from the developed anorexia and bulimia. Anything in that much excess is certainly at risk for turning into an addiction.
Because alcohol and drugs is what gets most of the attention…arrests, DUI’s, somebody getting hurt or hurting others.
There can be an addiction attached to anything…overeating, sex, gambling, smoking, shopping, self-harm (cutting, hair pulling, burning oneself, etc.), theft…and so on.
I think some addictions may be discounted because others might not realize that harm is being done to the individual doing the behavior. If someone isn’t getting drunk or high, what is the harm? Some addictions are extensions of socially acceptable behavior…eating for instance. Not so much anymore…but smoking used to be more accepted. Now that it is not…less people smoke or they try to quit. It’s easier to quit if no one else smokes.
addictions to sex, to viewing porn, to showing off, there are just so many
I agree with the previous responder that most people think that you are only ‘addicted’ to something if it has a physical withdraw…or basically if it is a chemical that creates a reaction in the body when not used after a period of use. But in fact, like you said, in the Diagnostic Manual for Addictions, you can be addicted to many things that are not tangible. Such examples of addictions are: gambling, card playing, video games, people (co-dependency), eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating), exercising, and physical behaviors (hair twirling, knuckle cracking, etc).
And you can be addicted to anything like sugar, caffeinne, over-the-counter drugs, Rx drugs…beyond the stuff that is illegal. And people tend to discount these things because they do not ’seem’ real. As though the person could just stop. But even with alcohol and drugs, the physical addiction is much easier to deal with than the mental addiction.
ANYTHING a person can do can become an addiction – people do not know this simply because they have not learned it yet or they choose to be ignorant.
We regularly watch “Intervention” on A&E, and it’s amazing (and sad) to see the different addictions that people have, beyond booze and drugs. They had a shopping addict and a gambling addict already, plus the food addicts (overeaters, bingers, anorexics). They all have common elements too.
Not to mention people’s addictions to video games, cell phones, computers, TV, exercise and health (yes, there are obsessive compulsive health and exercise freaks too who actually lead quite unhealthy lives), etc.
And I’ll bet most people reading this can’t go without their mug of coffee in the morning (which is 2 cups; 4 cups if you get one of those large coffees to go from somewhere). Congrats, you’re all addicts too.
cigarrettes
I think other then the chemically induced addictions –That people become addicted or obsessed for other reasons.
Obsessed with boyfriends, obsessed with loosing weight, . What obsessive and addictions have in common are that they are, in my opinion, is that the persons fears — sometimes hidden or even unknown to them, create the obsessive and addiction.
Fear is a very powerful force in peoples lives and it can enprison them and make them addicted …
I am with you. i think i am addicted to this answers thing. c
I agree with “crs” – fear can be a great motivator to do something and to stop something.
more than likely those sort of addictions are the ones you see most on TV and in the papers. they get the attention.