There’s nothing wrong with feeling good and having fun because humans were created with the potential to develop such feelings. Further, it is not inherently wrong to engage yourself into activities that are pleasurable. However, there’s a line between an activity and an addiction. A positive or neutral activity might take a negative turn if enjoyed too much.
Examples of addiction include when eating healthy or junk food, social media, watching Netflix, playing video games or going to the gym crosses the line into negativity. The severity of a condition can be determined if the addictive behaviors don’t involve the use of chemicals.
Here are 5 signs that you need to learn more about if you might have an addiction and most probably need help:
Top 5 Signs of Addiction to Look Out for
- Reward Response
Addiction can be determined using or by doing something that might either give you control or make you feel better. Not doing it at all can make you feel bad or even worse. Addiction includes doing things you like and end up feeling better or completely avoiding your dislikes to feel better. However, such activities often have negative consequences.
- Prevalence
Addiction comes about when you find yourself doing something more often than you had originally planned. If you find yourself saying you need something a little bit more, you are carving out more space in your life for the activities you are engaging in.
- Cessation
If you’re unable to do something or you happen to be thinking about the same thing and you start feeling uncomfortable and anxious, you are probably addicted to it. One way to determine how important the activities you are engaging in are important to you is avoiding them.
This can cause a highly instructive physical and emotional response. If you want to know if the things you are involved in have a stronger hold on you, check if the level of your panic attack is higher.
- Disruption
If what you do is interrupting your life, including your relationship with others, you could be dealing with an addiction. For example, imagine your life being a drawer full of school folders. The drawer only has space for files. Each time you add a file of Facebook or video games, the folders have to be pushed to create room in the drawer.
Inside the drawer, there are already other files such as sleep, family, work and chores. The more the new stuff is trying to pack into your drawer, the more pressure is put on what already exists.
- Reverting
If you always say you want to do something different, but end up doing the same thing each time, it could be an addiction. If you’ve created space for pleasurable, distracting and fun things in your life, you’ll easily come up with reasons to continue with the habit. Whenever you try quitting the habit, you easily revert to it.
Conclusion
The above mentioned signs point to an addiction problem. Addiction is a behavior that controls you. When using something you are addicted to, your anxieties, fears, preferences, pleasures and impulses take a center stage over your reasoned decisions and better judgment.
Seek professional help if you believe you’re experiencing an addiction problem that’s negatively impacting the health and quality of your life.
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