Living In Balance Therapeutic Services

Common use of
addiction:

Drugs, alcohol, gambling, or shopping can be compulsive reactions to being stressed. The focus of the addiction is not what matters: it is the need to act under certain kinds of stress. Treating this kind of addiction requires an understanding of how it works psychologically.

Addiction

Addiction can be defined, as the continued use of a mood-altering substance or behavior despite adverse consequences. Some addicts are good at hiding the extent of their dependence, but there is usually at least some evidence that something is not right. Friends and family are most often the ones who first become aware of the addiction, and they will become concerned. The most common reaction is for the addict to then
become defense when these concerns are mentioned. They are in denial about the problem. As the downward spiral continues the evidence of the addiction becomes increasingly obvious until even the addict is unable to deny it. The symptoms of addiction will be psychological and physical in nature.

Phycological Addiction

A psychological addiction, refers to how the individual can become mentally dependent on certain substances (usually mind altering) or behaviors. Even when the individual realizes the harm that alcohol and drugs are causing them they may continue to use because of these
psychological symptoms – willpower alone is often not enough to overcome a psychological addiction.

Physical Addiction

 Physical Addiction defined to say that an individual is physically addicted on a substance means that they have an increased tolerance for it, and they will experience physical symptoms should they try to stop or reduce their intake substantially. These physical symptoms are more commonly referred to as withdraws and they can include:

• Sweating

• Headaches

• Noticeable shaking or body tremors

• Changes to blood pressure

• Changes to pulse rate

• Seizures

• Body aches

• Nausea and vomiting

Addiction or Dependence

There can be a great deal of confusion between the words dependence and addiction. This is hardly suprising as they both tend to be used to refer to the same thing. In fact, many physicians perfer to use the word dependence because addiction is such a leaded word that carries all types of prejudices with it.