Addiction doesn't always involve drugs or alcohol. It's possible to become addicted to activities from shopping and food to gambling and sex.
The word "addiction" usually brings to mind substance abuse, but it's also possible to become addicted to an activity or process, including some everyday tasks. They may not be as obvious as substance addictions like tobacco, alcohol and drugs, but process addictions can be just as dangerous. These mood-altering behaviors or activities can include anything from gambling, sex, love, work or shopping to computers, cell phones, etc.
Everyone is addicted to something to some extent at some point in life. Whenever we engage in an activity with the intention of avoiding painful feelings, we are using that activity as an addiction. We can use anything as a way of avoiding how we feel and to avoid taking responsibility for those feelings. Anything can be an addiction, depending on our intention. People sometimes have difficulty understanding process addictions, because they believe people should just be able to stop negative behavior — especially when it starts to cause problems with relationships, finances or work — but those with process addictions face the same difficulty stopping as people with an addiction to a drug or other substance.
Sex Addiction
While it make people more squeamish than talking about a drug or alcohol problem, at its core sex addiction is just like any other compulsion. According to Sex Addicts Anonymous, "the essence of all addiction is the addicts' experience of powerlessness over a compulsive behavior, resulting in their lives becoming unmanageable. The addict is out of control and experiences tremendous shame, pain and self-loathing. The addict may wish to stop -- yet repeatedly fails to do so."
Sex addiction can manifest itself in many ways including extensive viewing of pornography, masturbating excessively, having affairs or sexual behavior with prostitutes. Sex addiction is estimated to affect 3 to 6 percent of adults in the United States, according to the Mayo Clinic, CNN.com reports. It's hard to accurately track a disorder, though, that the American Psychiatric Association has not even classified in its diagnostic handbook.
"We're seeing it with epidemic proportions now, particularly with regards to cybersex," said Mark Schwartz, psychologist and former director of the Masters and Johnson Institute in St. Louis, Missouri. "There isn't a week that goes by where I don't get two calls about sex addiction," Schwartz told CNN.com.
Gambling Addiction
For a problem gambler there's always one more game, one more hand, one more race. As with other process addictions, it's hard to understand for those who can put a few quarters in a slot machine and then easily walk away. But there's a clinical reason why some can't break off their harmful relationship with Lady Luck.
"Problem gambling is a progressive disorder in which an individual has a psychological preoccupation and urge to gamble," says the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling.
Though no substance is ingested, gambling can produce the same mood alterations in a problem gambler as someone else might experience with drugs or alcohol. The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling says that primary features of a problem gambler include emotional dependence, loss of control and an interference with normal life.
With increased access through Internet gambling sites, problem gamblers face greater obstacles than ever before in overcoming their addiction. Internet gambling also allows children and teens who aren't welcome in casinos to begin gambling at an early age (not surprisingly, an early start is common among adults who seek treatment for problem gambling).
Help for Process Addictions
While a process addiction can quickly become overwhelming, there is help for those who want to get their life back on track. Treatment for a process addiction requires identifying the addictive behavior and making a commitment to put a stop to it. It may sound simple, but it often requires an extensive period of therapy and other techniques.
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Addiction doesn't always involve drugs or alcohol. It's possible to become addicted to activities from shopping and food to gambling and sex.
