INTRODUCTION
Figure out the reasons why you are addicted!
- Are you suffering from an addiction?
- Do you want to understand the rationale behind your addiction?
- Are you looking for solutions to take back control over your addiction?
- Tired of falling into the same patterns again and again?
You landed just right!
In this article, you will discover:
- What is an addiction?
- The process of addiction
- 5 reasons why we become addicted?
- The overall solution to overcome your addiction
WHAT IS ADDICTION?
Contrary to popular beliefs and the definition of addiction in the medical community, addiction is not a brain disease. There is no physiological dysfunction in the brain of an addict. The reality is that we are all addicted to different things.
Addiction is a normal physiological process that the brain uses to learn pleasurable behaviors and repeat them because they are supposed to be beneficial. The problem occurs when an enjoyable behavior is harmful long term.
THE NOTION OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ADDICTION
Therefore, it is consequential to distinguish between negative and positive addictions.
- A positive addiction is having the urge to engage in healthy behaviors that make you a better person.
- A negative addiction is having the urge to engage in unhealthy behaviors that ruin your life over time.
A 6 STEPS PROCESS UNDERLYING ADDICTION
Here is a 6 steps process through which all addictions develop:
REASONS YOU ARE ADDICTED: DISCOVERY
First, in the discovery phase, you see, hear, or get introduced to the behavior in a social setting.
REASONS YOU ARE ADDICTED: POSITIVE ANTICIPATION
Do you know how a dog waves its tail when it realizes food is available? That is positive anticipation!
The moment thoughts arise, and you visualize yourself doing and expecting pleasure from a behavior, you are positively anticipating it.
REASONS YOU ARE ADDICTED: EXPERIENCING PLEASURE
Then, you engage in it and experience pleasure from it.
You memorize the behavior as beneficial and worth repeating in the future when the actual pleasure matches the anticipated pleasure.
REASONS YOU ARE ADDICTED: REPLAYING THE MEMORY
A trigger reminds you of the behavior, and the positive anticipation of the behavior resurfaces. Then, you chase that pleasure again.
REASONS YOU ARE ADDICTED: POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
Repetition leads to positive reinforcement of the neural circuits associated with that behavior, making it hard to resist!
ADDICTION
The absence of the behavior is painful, driving you to seek the behavior at all costs! Which activates the neural circuits subconsciously with an intense drive that does not seem to stop.
5 REASONS YOU ARE ADDICTED
By now, you understand the core principles behind addiction and the key variables that push us to engage in addictive behavior.
Here is a list of 5 reasons we are prone to seeking unhealthy addictions.
HIGHLY STRESSFUL MODERN LIFESTYLE
I do not need to paint a picture for you to explain how our modern lifestyle is stressful. Most of us are tied to a 9-to-5 job, with obligations and pressure to respect deadlines, and have little time for our well-being.
This constant stress and pressure create a sense of pain and struggle that becomes a recurrent state of mind. As a result, we avoid that pain by seeking immediate pleasure through alcohol, porn, and substance abuse.
The better option is to stand in the face of your problems with the courage to hold yourself responsible and find solutions. Identifying and engaging in healthy activities is a fantastic way to support yourself because it helps you release your pain, let go of it, relax, and see more clearly.
UNHEALTHY BEHAVIORS ARE EVERYWHERE!
Unhealthy and effortlessly available short-term rewards hijack our brain’s reward system. First, you fall into the trap of trying unhealthy behaviors. Then, you begin to value them for the pleasure they provide, despite the long-term harmful consequences they cause.
Unfortunately, in our modern world, these immediate pleasures are everywhere! They take the form of alcohol, drugs, rewarding foods, Binge-watching, video games, porn, gambling, and other extreme behaviors.
LIMITED OPTIONS FOR HEALTHY, PLEASURABLE BEHAVIORS
Another unfortunate reality is that there are very few options for healthy behaviors, and they are more costly and harder to execute. So, unless you are willing to look for healthy behaviors and spend some extra time and energy in the process, you are, by default, set to engage in unhealthy behaviors.
HEALTHY BEHAVIORS ARE NOT IMMEDIATELY REWARDING
As mentioned before, when we engage in healthy behaviors, we go through discomfort and spend extra energy. In addition, the reward doesn’t come straight away. It requires patience, delaying gratification, and relentlessly engaging in it.
SHORT-TERM REWARD CONDITIONING
Our brain is conditioned to value short-term rewards over long-term rewards. Instant gratification is the default-seeking state from which we operate daily. Most people lack long-term vision and the ability to delay gratification.
Furthermore, feelings of struggle and pain are frequent because societies have self-organized themselves around biological mismatches. Unhealthy behaviors became the norm and easily accessible at all times.
THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION FOR ADDICTION
Understand that addiction is a normal physiological process our brain executes to learn pleasurable behaviors and reinforce the learning experiences.
This process is positive because it allows the brain to function at top efficiency and save energy. In this context, you execute the behavior automatically without additional conscious efforts.
PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEGATIVE ADDICTION
Once you understand that, preventing addictions becomes easy:
- Avoid unhealthy behaviors and ensure you are not reinforcing them to the point of developing an addiction.
- Identify healthy behaviors and reinforce them to become addicted to them. Healthy behaviors will transform your life for the better.
OVERCOME YOUR ADDICTION
If you already suffer from a negative addiction:
- Be aware of its root cause.
- Review how you developed it over time.
- Realize the negative consequences it had on you.
- Visualize how much better your future life would be without it.
- Create a clear vision for the future without your addiction and with new healthy addictions.
- Seek help to execute your vision.
- Enjoy your new healthy behavior and express as much pleasure as you can.
CONCLUSION
Finally, I hope this helped you understand addiction and its underlying reasons. Keep in mind that you have the power to overcome your addiction and there is nothing wrong with it.
Change your perspective on addiction, create a clear vision for your future, visualize your life without the addiction, express disgust towards it, and replace it with healthy, pleasurable behaviors to build the life you deserve!
You’ve got this!