Addiction Information
 

Addictions

Humans can literally be addicted to anything.  All it takes is repetitive patterns for the
brain to become fixated on the thing that makes it feel better.  Ah – happy serotonin.

Here are some of the widely-known and accepted addictions that we recognize:

• Alcohol and / or drugs
• Animals – collecting pets
• Anger and Rage
• Another person
• Any hobby has the potential for addiction
• Any physical activity or sport, such as bicycling or gym workouts
• Cars – antique or otherwise 
• Cleaning and/or decorating
• Eating; it can be one thing like desserts or food, in general
• Education – the professional student
• Extramarital activities
• Family activities and holidays
• Gambling in casinos or lottery purchases
• Real estate investments
• Religion and church activities
• Sex and/or pornography
• Shopping and spending money
• Stock market participation
• Sports participation and observation

Any of these plus any other activity you can think of can become an addiction when it consumes too much time and energy in a person’s life.  Another indication of an  addiction might be when it creates distress in the life of someone you love or are in a relationship with.     

Healthy people are flexible people and should be able to shift gears and change patterns.

When a person becomes inflexible, that is a huge sign that he or she has become addicted to a particular thing or a routine.  The definition of addiction is the habitual use of something, in order to create a feel-good sensation in the user.  Brain chemistry is actually altered when an addiction is engaged. 

The bottom line is that everything we do should be done with healthy balance and it should never create repeated distress in the people we love and live with.