How Is Addiction Affecting My Life?

What is Addiction?

Before we dive into how addiction is affecting our lives, we must first define addiction. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, addiction is, “the need or strong desire to do or to have something, or a very strong liking for something.” We can be addicted to various activities and substances such as gambling, sex, drugs, technology, and many others. Addiction can change our brain’s chemistry, making the cycle hard to break. There is good news, however, and that is that recovery from addiction is possible.

How is Addiction Affecting my Life?

Addiction can affect your life in the following ways:

Social

Our friends and family ultimately want us to be happy and healthy, and watching us struggle with addiction can be challenging for them. Many times our cravings can get us into trouble legally, physically, and emotionally, which can make our loved ones weary when it comes to supporting us. Addiction to drugs, for example, can cause us to act in ways we would otherwise never dream of doing. As a result, we begin to lose our valued connections, and before we know it, we are alone. This can be the most challenging aspect of overcoming addiction because not only are we alone, but we also have difficulty making new and healthy friendships. Often addicts begin to make friends who are interested in the same substances, leading to a potentially deadly cycle.

Emotional

Addiction to substances can cause our brain to rewire its pathways and change the chemistry within our minds. This rewiring can affect our emotions causing depression, isolation, and feelings of helplessness. Over time, we may begin to feel so helpless that we convince ourselves that we will never be able to change.

Physical

Addiction can take control of our bodies. Over time, exposure to a substance, such as drugs, builds our body’s resistance. This means that we are so used to the substance, that our minimum intake level does not produce the same results anymore. As a result, we must take in more significant amounts of the substance just to feel the substance affecting us. This increased intake can be dangerous and fatal in some cases. The longer we are dependent on a substance, the more likely we are to suffer adverse consequences.

Addiction Treatment

If you are struggling with addictive behaviours, it is essential that you seek treatment. Your symptoms, even when they are severe, can improve with psychological interventions and talking therapy with our counselling and psychotherapy team, with medication from our psychiatrist, or a mixture of both. Treatment may include:

• Managing a safe withdrawal from your addictive substance
• Exploring what you are avoiding through your behaviours
• Learning skills to challenge your thinking, and manage emotions
• Create relapse prevention and wellness plans

At EmotionMatters we can also help you rebalance your nutrition and physiology. This can help reduce your symptoms of withdrawal, your cravings and urges, and help to heal your body.