2. Addictive Disorder
Characteristics
Recurrent failure to resist the behavior.
Increased sense of tension or arousal prior to
involvement.
Pleasure while experiencing the behavior.
Feelings of remorse and guilt over doing the behavior.
3. Arousal: Sensations of intense, raw, unchecked power, feelings
of invulnerability. All powerful feeling. (ex: gambling, sex,
spending, stealing)
Satiation: Full, complete, numb, beyond pain or distress.
(ex: food, TV, video poker)
Fantasy: Imaginings about addictive experiences. Euphoric
recall. Milkman and Sunderwirth
Craving Ecstasy:
Three Types of “Highs”Three Types of “Highs”
4.
5.
6.
7. Compulsive Shopping --Compulsive Shopping --
Oniomania
Similar to gambling -- come to feel worth and self-Similar to gambling -- come to feel worth and self-
esteem from the shopping experience.esteem from the shopping experience.
Fantasy of “specialness” & respect (salespeople)
Belief that buying will bring one closer to ideal self
Becomes impulse control issue
8. WARNING SIGNS:WARNING SIGNS:
Compulsive Shopping /
Spending
Arguments with others about spending habits
Feeling lost without credit cards
Many purchases are never used.
Lying to others about what was bought or how much money was
spent.
Spending a lot of time juggling accounts and bills.
9. Exercise Addiction
Feel depressed, guilty, or tense if don’t
get to exercise every day
Work out despite illness, injury, or
dangerous conditions
Push everything else in life aside
Feel a lack of satisfaction after exercising
Diagnostic symptoms:
10. WARNING SIGNS:
Compulsive Exercise
Working out alone,
isolated from others.
Always following same
rigid exercise pattern
Exercising more than two
hours daily, repeatedly
Fixation on weight loss or
calories burned
Exercising to the point of pain
or when in pain
Skipping work, class, or social
engagement for workouts
11. Addicted to Love
Obsessed -- hyper-involvement to notion of
connectedness
Romantic --“in love with fantasy”
overwhelming need to care for, no matter the
price.
Narcissistic -- possessive, controlling, or
demanding of partner
An unhealthyAn unhealthy
attachment to aattachment to a
person,person,
relationship orrelationship or
“romance”“romance”
(Susan Peabody)(Susan Peabody)
12. In Pursuit of Pleasure
Persistent desire for sex
An abundance of time spent in
activities preparing for, engaging in,
or recovering from the sexual
behavior (w/ or w/o partner).
An estimated 3-6% of
population are
affected.
13. Brain Changes & Sexual
Behavior
Prolonged acting out alters a
person’s brain chemistry until they
“require excitement to feel normal.”
MAO -- enzyme that regulated the
neurotransmission of arousal in the brain.
Severe mood changes related to
sexual activity.
14. Sexual Addiction &
Abuse
Very high correlation exists
between childhood abuse and
adult sexual addiction.
Emotional Abuse (97%)
Sexual Abuse (83%)
Physical Abuse (71%)
15. Cybersex Activity
Has had historical approval
Debate regarding harm
Gender differences
Visual vs relational stimulus
Internet impact
moved to a “virtual source of cocaine”
16. Cybersex Addiction
Triggers reward pathway –
Dopamine flooding
Re-circuits the pathways –
Takes away receptors
Leads to tolerance
Dis“ease” shows up in life
Disinterest in “typical” sexual relations Neuroplasticity10
Porn hijacks the brain
Editor's Notes
As all of you know, substances are not the only thing that a person can become addicted to and/or have difficulty with along the path of recovery. We wanted to make sure and briefly talk about a variety of these other issues that can complicate recovery and/or be the primary concern for some people as they work to have a healthy life.
Some of the issues that are on the list of “Behavioral Addictions” include
Gambling, Gaming, Sex, Cybersex, Internet, Shopping, Exercising, and eating. While we will have some special folks talking about the Gambling and Disordered Eating sections, this section is to talk briefly about a few of these these to make sure you are conscious of these issues as causing some folks extra concern.
So, as you know, the general characteristics of identifying an addictive disorders are oftentimes similar, no matter the substance or behavior that one is having struggles with. We will just reiterate those characteristics so you can think of them in terms of these behaviors.
Recurrent failure to resist a behavior that has become harmful to self & others.
Increased sense of tension or arousal prior to involvement with behavior.
Pleasure while experiencing the behavior.
Feelings of remorse and guilt over the consequences of doing the behavior.
The bottom line is that typically when we are developing and struggling with an addiction we are craving Ecstasy. That ecstasy might serve different purposes and some of the behaviors are more effective for meeting that desired “high”. For example –
The desired outcomes from the use of the behavior include –
ACTION
ESCAPE
POWER / CONTROL
INCLUSION
There are many parallels between problem gambling and other substance abuse. There are environmental reinforcements, there is a denial of vulnerability, and generally we believe we have a right to “take the edge off” by pleasing ourselves with these outlets. One of the reasons that gambling, in particular, has become such an issue on the past few years is that it has characteristics that feed directly into our ways of thinking and our decision making. We are pre-wired for these problems, and gambling processes exploit our natural inclinations. Gambling provides partial reinforcement which we know from psychology is the most behaviorally reinforcing. Also, since gambling does not show up like alcoholism, it can be hidden and the discovery of this problem might take more examination.
- Chasing is the phenomena unique to gamblers where they return another day to “recoup their losses.” You rarely find another addict returning to try and seek “a new low” or to replicate “an overdose,” however gamblers are going after the action and the irrational belief they have special powers to retrieve money “owed” to them.
We see here that modern gambling takes advantage of our natural tendencies. These thinking errors really challenge us and, if believed, often create humans to make bad decisions. Just look at the way people play slots and you will see all of these errors--such as the illusion of control, when players believe that slots pay off in a pattern, and if they respond to the pattern properly, the machine will pay off or when the numbers almost line up, players may think that the next pull will pay off because the last one was so close. Luck is another issue. For example, the idea that we have to wear our “lucky shirt” or believe that WE have a special machine can certainly be enticing. Sometimes people begin to believe their luck is running and they are on a winning streak, when the odds are the only thing that really predicts or controls payoffs.
Along with the physical and mental problems mentioned on the last two slides, we are aware that addictive behaviors tend to cluster together, and gambling, like other addictions, tends to be part of a larger constellation of problems—for the pathological gambler and their families. Look at the statistics on the following slides and imagine the struggles a person might have attempting to face two or more of these problems?
Studies suggest that compulsive shoppers give in to their buying urges 74% of the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPtk9FQuC88
Carnes reports that while 2/3 of those sexually addicted today generally have this background (along with problems with attachment, rigid and disengaged family history, and other addictive behaviors) – however, the advent of cybersex is increasing the numbers who do not have this background.
As sex came out of the closet, we see: Originally utilized more by men, therefore, often more appealing to men (i.e., more visually stimulating vs relational story)
Sometimes viewed as method to satisfy partner so spouse could “get on with other needs in life”
One sexologist says that it is far less damaging to marriages than “depression”
However, the internet has created problem due to “quick” response time – available, accessible, affordable, abundant
“like virtual cocaine” in terms of the fix.
When diagnosing for “problem”– check for
compulsive use
preferred over real life partner
whether decreases sexual drive or desire
need to act out fantasy
coercion
Just like other addictive substances, Porn triggers reward pathway–
Re-circuits -- What fires together, wires together
Brain gets overwhelmed by the constant overload of chemicals that comes with consistent porn use, so
It fights back by taking away some of its dopamine receptors. As a result,
porn isn’t as arousing or exciting, so many go hunting for more or harder core porn
As a frequent porn user’s brain acclimates, harder for person to get a normal burst of dopamine so
Person feels down or uneasy whenever going without looking at
Like food, sex is wired for survival—recognized by brain 20% times faster (Anokhin,et al, 2006)
Fear also creates brain response –releases hormones that also stimulate the brain center
Neuroplasticity works both ways, though. The damage to the brain can be undone when someone gets away from unhealthy behaviors.
