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Today we live in a society weighed down by addictions of many kinds. People sacrifice close relationships and even their own health in order to engage compulsively in drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, pornography, promiscuous sex, gambling, and even work. The term “addiction” describes the process that underlies much of this destructive behavior.
By definition, an addiction is an unhealthy way to try and deal with a person’s unfulfilled intimacy with others and/or the inability to deal with the ups and downs of physical, emotional, and social stressors in life. Addictions can represent unresolved hurts and/or developmental failure, dating back to early phases of a person’s life. These are present to some degree in everyone. However, these behaviors become unhealthy when emotional, social, or occupational functioning is impaired and the person is not able to take responsibility for their actions.
-Low self-esteem and/or poor self image.
-Search for other addicts as peer support.
-Character defects: dishonesty, unreliability, etc.
-Conflicts over power and dependency in relationships.
-Inflated sense of self, use of people to meet one's own needs.
-Denial of serious problems stemming from the addictions or compulsive behavior.
-Low tolerance for frustration and emotional pain: Addictive behaviors are typically oriented toward escape from pain, frustration, or fear that something negative will happen more than to attain pleasure.
Often there are emotions that can accompany addictions such as: anxiety, loneliness, fear, depression, guilt, boredom, grief, anger, etc. Often the person will repeatedly use unhealthy behaviors to soothe these emotions, only to find that the emotions come back. As a result, the repeated use only strengthens a habit pattern, which in turn encourages the person to use the unhealthy behavior again.
Treatment suggestions Treatment for addictions will vary depending on the type of addiction and its severity. Counseling would be extremely beneficial to learn the origin of the issues that contributed to the onset of the problem and learn new ways to deal with issues that drive the addictive behavior. The emotional, spiritual, social, and vocational needs should be addressed, as they become appropriate. It is important to have a supportive environment, such as a friend, spouse, family, church, or support group to provide encouragement and emotional/social/spiritual support with the life changes.
MASTERPEACE Center for Counseling and Development
308 S. Maumee Street, Tecumseh, MI 49286
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517-423-6889
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www.mpccd.com
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