{"id":518,"date":"2019-10-31T14:23:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T20:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifestartherapy.com\/?p=518"},"modified":"2019-10-31T14:23:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T20:23:19","slug":"the-psychology-of-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifestartherapy.com\/the-psychology-of-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychology of Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The United States today is facing a massive epidemic, that often only presents itself behind closed doors. The epidemic of addiction to substances and behaviors affects millions of people around the country, and unfortunately, it is growing worse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the best things we can do as Americans to combat this epidemic of addiction is to educate ourselves about addiction psychology. By learning more about addiction psychology, we can find tools to combat addiction and find better ways to support those who suffer.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Are People Addicted To?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When many people think of addiction, they tend to think about addictions to physical substances, such as drugs or alcohol. This is understandable, seeing that in 2016 there were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.samhsa.gov\/data\/sites\/default\/files\/NSDUH-FFR1-2016\/NSDUH-FFR1-2016.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">28.6 million people in the US who used illicit drugs at some point<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and roughly 65 million who reported binge drinking in the last month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, an addiction can be formed to a wide variety of both substances and behaviors, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gambling<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shopping<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pornography<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sex<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drugs and alcohol<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Opiates such as heroin or oxycodone<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generally speaking, when a person begins engaging in a behavior that is pleasurable, but cannot stop doing that behavior, even to the point of it negatively impacting their everyday life, including work and family relationships, that person is addicted to the behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Is the Cause of Addiction?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When talking about the psychology of addiction and its underlying causes, you should understand that there are rarely any simple answers regarding addiction, especially since there are physical and psychological causes of addiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Physical Causes<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The physical causes of addiction mainly center around a neurotransmitter in the brain called dopamine. Dopamine is naturally produced by the body and plays a role in how we feel pleasure. Some activities, such as taking drugs or viewing pornography, can cause the brain to release massive amounts of dopamine and then prevent its absorbtion. This can dramatically alter one\u2019s brain chemistry.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Psychological Causes<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When talking about the psychology of addiction, especially the psychology of porn addiction, it is important to understand the role of emotional stress. Emotional stress can play a major role in addictive behavior, manifesting in many ways from a variety of causes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many addicts will turn to addictive substances and behaviors to distract themselves from their emotional stress, which many times stems from some form of trauma. This trauma can occur during their childhood or later on in life.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">History Behind Addiction Psychology<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Addiction is not a new problem. Drugs have been abused around the world for hundreds, even thousands, of years, meaning addiction has existed for just as long. Over time, rehabilitation efforts have appeared, such as the founding of the New York Inebriate Asylum in 1864 and the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, there are many organizations and resources available for those who wish to combat addiction that can offer traditional, evidence-based treatments as well as experimental and holistic approaches. There is a wealth of knowledge that can benefit anyone who is suffering from the malady of addiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Causes an Addictive Personality?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There has long been a debate among researchers and scientists on whether or not psychological addiction is nature or nurture based. One thing is very clear however: physical addiction does have a strong genetic component. Compulsive behaviors related to OCD and anxiety also seem to share this genetic link.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Medical experts agree that those who abuse substances and those who engage in destructive compulsive behaviors share similar psychological traits, meaning they may have an addictive personality or, in other words, be more prone to addictive behaviors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Characteristics of an addictive personality include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Difficulty in delaying gratification<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strong sense of alienation from family and society<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sense of being under constant high stress<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tendency toward impulsive actions and behaviors\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Type of Therapy is Best for Addictions?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dealing with addiction is a long and difficult journey that requires a lot of determination and support. Success at recovery from addiction is much higher with the aid of professional help in the form of long-term therapy and\/or an intensive outpatient program that provides support for both addicts and families, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lifestartherapy.com\/porn-addiction-treatment-recovery-counseling\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">such as the services that LifeStar Therapy provides.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you would like to learn more about the psychology behind sex addiction and porn addiction, check out our article on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lifestartherapy.com\/why-do-people-become-addicted-to-pornography\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">why people become addicted to pornography.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States today is facing a massive epidemic, that often only presents itself behind closed doors. The epidemic of addiction to substances and behaviors affects millions of people around the country, and unfortunately, it is growing worse. One of the best things we can do as Americans to combat this epidemic of addiction is to educate ourselves about addiction psychology. By learning more about addiction psychology, we can find tools to combat addiction and find better ways to support those who suffer. What Are People Addicted To? When many people think of addiction, they tend to think about addictions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Psychology of Addiction - LifeStar Therapy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lifestartherapy.com\/the-psychology-of-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Psychology of Addiction - LifeStar Therapy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United States today is facing a massive epidemic, that often only presents itself behind closed doors. The epidemic of addiction to substances and behaviors affects millions of people around the country, and unfortunately, it is growing worse. One of the best things we can do as Americans to combat this epidemic of addiction is to educate ourselves about addiction psychology. By learning more about addiction psychology, we can find tools to combat addiction and find better ways to support those who suffer. What Are People Addicted To? 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