Addiction can destroy lives and relationships. Find out the science about how addiction happens, and what help is available for kicking addiction.
Addiction can ruin your life. It can destroy your health, eat up all your money, and push the people you love away. Why would someone allow such a thing to happen? It’s not always easy to prevent because the human body thrives on the stimulation addiction brings. Join Mysticsense to find out the mechanisms within us that are accepting of addiction and ten of the most common addictions. Learn that addiction doesn’t have to rule your life. There is help, and we will share what kind is out there and some helpful resources. It’s not unusual to be taken in by an addiction, but you can beat it. Read on to take the first step to understanding and kicking addiction.
What is Addiction?
The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) defines addiction as “ A treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual's life experiences. People with addiction to substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.” A lot of people will be addicted to something at some point in their lives. Healthy habits that you keep up with every day are not classed as addictions because they don't cause harm. Read more from the ASAM here: What is the Definition of Addiction?
The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics shares some sobering facts about addiction. As of 2020, they reported over 138 million people to have illicitly used drugs during their lifetime. About 28 million people have an alcohol use disorder. This wasn't just for adults. They were tracking substance abuse for people over the age of 12. These statistics were just in the United States. Read more here: NCDAS: Substance Abuse and Addiction Statistics [2023]
Addiction causes serious health problems. While alcohol,l tobacco, and other substances can cause cardiovascular issues and cancer, they can also cause psychological trouble and problems breathing. They cause issues with your career. Some drugs and alcohol will knock you out to the point that you cannot perform well at work let alone show up. They also cause problems in your relationships because they alter your behavior to the point that it's difficult to connect with other people. Non substance abuse addiction like gambling and shopping addiction can create serious debt that you never recover from. You can lose everything you own because of addiction.
How Addiction Happens
Nobody wakes up one morning and decides that they want to ruin their life by becoming addicted. Addiction takes hold of the body and makes it very difficult to stop. Addiction happens when something brings pleasure. Certain chemicals in the brain are released when we have a pleasurable experience. It's part of the body's mechanism known as rewarding. When something makes you feel happy and releases these chemicals from your brain into your body, giving you a sense of well-being, you will want to repeat that experience over and over. Things like eating and sex are normal healthy ways that we experience this.
Constant over stimulation of this through substance use or obsessively seeking a pleasurable experience causes these chemicals to release even more and this changes the way that the brain works. Your brain will try to get back to normal by releasing less of those rewarding chemicals each time you have the rewarding experience. However, the desire to be rewarded more overcomes some people, and you need more of the stimulation to feel as good as you did. Maybe tobacco is your addiction. Tobacco isn’t just for smoking. Read about ritual uses of tobacco and smoke here: Sacred Smoke with Tobacco- Magical and Ritual Uses
That's why it's so hard to quit whatever you're addicted to. The body will go through withdrawal from not only a substance or an experience, but the brain itself will go through withdrawal from not getting as many as those of those pleasure hormones released. For example, withdrawing from alcohol can give you headaches, make it difficult if not impossible to sleep, and your whole body might shake. You may become irritable and lose your appetite. Tobacco withdrawal isn't much better. It will make it difficult to concentrate, you can feel depressed, jumpy, and your appetite can spike, making you gain weight. The longer you're addicted to something the more the body wants to hold on to that addiction.
Common Addictions
What are these things that can ruin your life if you become addicted to them? Some are substances, and others are behavioral. All of them are things that can ruin your life, but they are all things that can be controlled.
Substance Abuse
Substance abuse is the use of alcohol or drugs, or prescription medication, for purposes other than those they are meant for, or in excess. Prescription painkillers taken long term can snowball out of control until the pain killers no longer kill the pain. In the United States, prescription painkiller addiction has resulted in people reaching for something stronger, namely heroin and fentanyl, which often results in death. Smoking tobacco is always harmful to lung, cardiovascular, and skin health. All substance abuse can result in health problems or death.
Work Addiction
Is there any such thing as working too hard? In a world focused on success, some people would say that there isn't. However, working so many hours you don't rest will take years off your life. It can also ruin your relationships. Some divorces are orchestrated by lack of spousal involvement and the marriage. If you are so driven to succeed at work, you end up working more hours than are necessary, you have a work addiction. Always remember if you die from overwork, your employer will immediately replace you. However your family will never be able to replace you. Read about healing for families here: Psychic Protection for Family Problems
Addiction to Toxicity
If you find yourself trapped in one dead end relationship after another, you're trapped in a toxic cycle. If every significant other cheats on you, exploits you financially, or verbally abuses you, you are addicted to toxic relationships. You might not consciously decide that this is what you want, that you will unconsciously choose it time and again. The way to break this cycle is to see the signs of toxicity before you commit, and get as far away from toxic relationships as possible. Admitting that you have this problem is the first step to getting out.
Media Addiction
Do you find it impossible to put down your cell phone when you're having a conversation with people? Do you spend almost all of your time in front of the Internet or watching the television set? Do you neglect other areas of your life such as hygiene, work or school, and spending time with other people in favor of watching the television or the Internet? Do you become agitated or feel withdrawal when you don't have your television or Internet? You have media addiction. You get instant gratification and you get to escape from whatever problems are in your life. It helps people to overcome shyness and give them a sense of connectedness without having to interact with other people. Relationships can be difficult but they don’t have to be. Read some relationship facts here: All About Love and Relationships
Extreme Activity Addiction
While laziness might be frowned upon, doing too much isn't good either. If you're unable to sit down and rest, or have idle time, you may have an addiction to being active. If you're on the go constantly the minute you get out of bed until you fall back into bed for the night- if you allow yourself to sleep that is- there is something driving you to be constantly on the go. Work and family responsibilities might keep you busy, but if there is no necessity to stay constantly active, you are addicted to extreme activity. This can happen because of neurodivergent disorders that make it impossible for you to hold still, and it can also happen because you were forced to stay busy for your parents when you were growing up.
Gambling Addiction
Gambling addiction is so prevalent there's even a word for it, gambling disorder. It means that you have an uncontrollable urge to gamble even though it takes a toll on your life. Some people become so desperate to finance their gambling after they run out of money, they will resort to theft or fraud. That thrill that people get when they win, or the anticipation of hoping they will can create an adrenaline rush like no other that some people feel that they can't live without. Some people gamble away every last penny they have, lose their home, car, and all their possessions due to their gambling addiction.
Food Addictions
Food addiction is a behavior characterized by compulsive consumption of certain food items. Foods that are high in salt, fat, or sugar are highly addictive to the body, but over consuming high volumes of food is another food addiction. Some people will binge eat, or eat huge amounts of food at once. Other people are addicted to starving themselves. Some people will binge eat and then self induce vomiting. Some people will continuously eat small amounts through the day, and won't realize how much they ever consume. Often, food cravings are of unhealthy ultra processed foods, but some people over focus on “clean eating”, and believe that the wrong foods will contaminate their bodies. You can use food for good, specifically magic. Find out how here: The Magic of Food
Sex Addiction
Another addictive behavior is sex addiction. This can include excessive sexual thoughts that can't be controlled, sex multiple times a day for extended periods of time, viewing so much pornography you miss out on having an actual social life, and reckless sexual behavior that endangers you are all signs of sex addiction. Some less well known signs of sex addiction are that you may become depressed when you're not having sex, or you're so preoccupied with sexual thoughts you can't think of anything else. This can make it difficult if not impossible for you to have a normal healthy relationship, and it can make you withdraw from a normal life.
Spending Addiction
When you spend excessively on things that you don't need, and it hurts you financially, that's a spending addiction. You might feel ashamed after a spending spree and neglect other responsibilities because you're spending so much money on your shopping. Not only does this create financial instability, but it can damage your personal relationships. Some people who have spending compulsions find it difficult to relate on a personal level to other people because they are so focused on inanimate objects that they can buy. Spending addictions can be brought on because you're having a difficult time processing your emotions or stress, and buying something gives you a sense of euphoria. Libras love to shop- but not necessarily obsessively. Read more about that Zodiac Sign here: Libra Traits | Star Sign in the Spotlight
Spiritual Obsessions
Some people say that their most important relationship is their relationship with the god or goddess that they serve. Unfortunately, some people obsess over their religion. Religious OCD, also known as scrupulosity, is a form of obsessive compulsive disorder where people obsessively fixate on religion. For a lot of modern religious people, this takes the forum of a fixation of the fear of going to hell. Almost all of their time will be devoted to religious activities. They will pray excessively, constantly seek reassurance from their spiritual leaders, repeatedly purge or do cleansing rituals, constantly read from their sacred scriptures, or do obsessive acts of self sacrifice such as donating so much money they go broke, or spending so much time in their religious community their career and personal life suffers.
Help with Addictions
If you've read this point, you may have discovered that you have an addiction you weren't aware of. Don't worry though. You don't have to be ruled by your addiction for life. Some people are able to control their addictions on their own and other people need support. There is help.
Quitting Cold Turkey
Some people are able to break their addiction on their own. Reducing reliance on whatever you're addicted to a little bit at a time is one way to quit. Some people swear that quitting cold turkey, or quitting all at once is a way to go with kicking an addiction. Other people replace an unhealthy addiction with something else. Some people break the overeating habit by going to the gym. Some people break their shopping habits by doing volunteer work to occupy their time. Some people go for a long walks with their dog instead of gambling. If you're able to kick your addiction yourself, you're one of the lucky ones. If not, there is always help.
Counseling
Countless people worldwide benefit from conversations with a therapist. Even though addictions affect us scientifically, sometimes there are pre-existing emotional challenges that make us more likely to find comfort in an addiction. Sessions with a trained addiction specialist can help you to sort through the underlying causes that made you become addicted in the first place and they will give you solutions to kicking your addiction. In today's world, online counseling is even available. To match with an online counselor in the US, see here: Find a Therapist with Grow Therapy | Virtual & In-Person Therapy
Addiction happens because our bodies fixate on the pleasurable feeling that repeating something gives us. When these pleasurable behaviors start to wreck our lives, they become a problem. If you can't quit, you're addicted. We can be addicted to anything from food, sex, gambling, and overwork. Addiction doesn't have to rule our lives though. If we can't kick our addictions on our own we can always talk to an expert addiction counselor. So if you're having trouble with an addiction, reach out for help and take control of your life instead of letting addiction control you.
A psychic can be very supportive when you’re kicking addiction. Get a reading started with us today.
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