The other kind of Addiction

The other kind of Addiction

Are you a gamer who plays 24/7, who seeks home, happiness in the video games every time  when something bad happens in life, when there's distress, anything that is difficult to handle?

Or are prone to any activity which does not allow you to slide it aside and are too dearly attached to it.

It can be anything reading novels, watching sitcoms, series, playing video games, texting, excessive use of internet, or excessively dependent on any other activity,
than  I welcome you to the world of behavioral addiction.

Addiction is a term that means compulsive physiological need for and use of a habit forming substance.

And addictive behavior is a brain disorder, or a stimula related to a behavior, that is both rewarding and reinforcing and associated with development of addiction. And this is the definition you'll find every time you ask Google.

"In simple words, anything or any activity that breaks the boundary and your involvement is such that nothing else matters, than that no more is a simple affection but a serious addiction."

"Behavioral science experts believe that all entities capable of stimulating a person can be addiction and whenever a habbit changes into an obligation, it can be considered as an addiction."

Activities such as computer gaming, chatting, internet browsing, reading novels, watching series, any other that brings  a change in your behavior towards desiring more, and a feeling of high can be treated as to behavioral addiction.

Starting with an activity to pass time and ending up in a situation where living without it becomes difficult, nothing in this world matters, apart from continuing the process.

When your entire concentration is put into that act of behavior and nothing else matters that's the time to realize ' you are an addict '.

To help you understand better what behavioral addiction is, let me use Tonney Robbins's 6 human needs theory with my behavioral addiction.

1. Significance
2. Certainty
3. Uncertainty
4. Connection
5. Growth
6. Contribution

(I'm going to take an example of my addictive behavior towards the app called Wattpad and how these human needs are related to my addiction and proved that I was an addict and I want you to go through these  steps and try yourself with one such activity that you can't live without and identify yourself whether or not you too can relate to these behaviors.)

1) Significance means desire to feel we are important, unique, special.

A friend of mine suggested me this app, and it includes a variety of books which you can read offline and are for free, to me this was Alladin's chirag Reading those books made me feel special, important and I continued reading one after the other.

2) Certainty: assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure.

There was no stop, after completing one book I quickly used to switch to the next book, reading books created a virtual space where in all these characters resided, no worry of reality, no pain, no problems  and only the hypothetical happiness from imaginary characters remained.

3) Uncertainty/Variety: the need for the unknown, change, new stimuli.

It somehow felt safe, and Virtual world created using the stories gave a whole new feeling.

4) Connection/Love: a strong feeling of closeness or union with someone or something.

My attachment to those characters from the novels was more that my bonding with my family and friends.
I was more close to the activity rather then the real world. Sharp connection with the characters.

5) Growth: an expansion of capacity, capability or understanding.

And the more I continued reading the more I understood about stories.

6) Contribution: a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others.

Only by performing this activity of reading I felt relived. It had turned out to be my support system without which leaving alive sounded impossible.

*Significance gives domination of persons life by the activity.
*Due to the activity a certain kind of buss is formed, an emotion of high.
*Continuation of similar activity leads to greater extent of buzz, an uncertain and a variety.
*And to stop doing the activity which has caused you to have that buzz becomes difficult and nearly impossible and even if you withdraw or try coming out the process of coming outside of that system becomes difficult causing emotional distress.
*By even sliding away from the activity for a certain span leads to anxiety.
*Recommencement of the action leads to negative life consequences and negligence of work, education/career opportunities.

Cause for behavioral addiction?

Constant monitoring done by people near by the addict to check the use of the addiction.

Ex: if you are addicted to watching sitcoms and cannot stop watching it, you don't  think about anything that's  happening around you, or even have no care of this world are completely engrossed in the process of watching it. 

You have lost track of time and are somewhere else, away from reality.

Watching it has granted a doze,  you feel like your in a different world, living among those characters and coming out of it is very difficult.

You are completely in control if the substance/activity.

This effect of behavioral addiction is similar to drug(substance) addiction.

Both cause similar problems leading to life threatening situations.

Due to addiction,
You lose track of time, can't stop until you complete the activity (watching movie, reading novels, shopping, playing video games, browsing, exercising etc) and  continuing performing the  activity until it's completely over.

The sooner it ends, pain starts crawling, headache, uneasiness, feeling of unsafe, unsure of the surrounding, anxious and tired, wanting more of the activity.

The after effects are a nightmare, fur to the yearning towards performing the addictive activities one starts feeling distress and starts having unhealthy diet, over eating.

Behavioral addiction is as dangerous as substance addiction to all this similar aftereffects.

Peel Griffith said that addicted individuals are dependent on a particular set of experience, of which reaction to a specific chemical substance is only one example.

Behavioral addiction is the presence of psychopathology such as depression, substance dependency or withdrawal and social anxiety as well as lack of social support.

Based on Davis's behavioral model of pathology, people who suffer from behavioral addiction were tired, depressed, lonely, shy and usually have other types of addiction.

Behavioral addiction include collection of disorder such as.

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Obsessive thoughts
• Isolation
• Disturbance in social relationship
• Educational problems like lack of interest, failure.
• Interpersonal difficulties
• Isolation and degligence of friend and family.

And when the individual reduses or stops a specific behavior,

• Excessive fatigue.
• Lifestyle changes
• Change in sleep pattern
• Impatience
• Eating disorder

Are caused.

If you are a behavioral addict.

Then seek help, reach out, accept that you have a problem and what started as a small hobby, a get away from you tiny problems has now turned to a hazardous addiction.

Take precautions.

From my above example of me being addicted to a books app. I started realizing something was wrong with me, missing sleep, skipping breakfast and distress .

By understanding my obsession towards an activity I started tacking precautionary measure.

Slowly step by step, keeping my self away from the app.

Interacting with people rather then seeking help in a non leaving character.

Changing my schedules and to concentrate on what's important.