Psychological Addiction: are physical symptoms just effects of the mind?

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Mike

The psychological model of addiction and theories behind it

The vast field of psychology largely deals with observing behavior and its effects on people. This behavior is rooted in the mental phenomenon within the individual. There may be many different aspects of a person’s “mental make-up” which could cause them to have an addictive personality. There is the possibility that they have a difficult time expressing their emotions, and they get bottled up inside and their only release is a powerful one.

Physical addiction vs psychological addiction

The difference in between the two addictions is pretty simple. When you are physically addicted to something, the withdrawal symptoms are caused by your body needing more of something. When you are psychologically addicted to something, the withdrawal symptoms are caused by your mind needing more of something.

Symptoms and effects of psychological addiction

I happened to have spent the majority of my life addicted to food. While in the long term, food is physically addictive (you will die if you stop eating, in case you didn’t know), in the short-term, food is mostly addictive to the mind. If you discover that you are hungriest when you are bored or stressed, chances are you have a psychological addiction to food.

Through several self-experiments, I ended up eating complex carbs which amounted to so few calories compared to what I was previously consuming. I understand that complex carbs can be more filling, but I am NEVER hungry anymore and survive off much fewer calories. This allows me to point to the conclusion that I didn’t need all the food I was consuming before, I was only consuming it to fill a perceived void in my existence.

There may be bodily symptoms present with psychological addiction. The feeling of having a lack of anything that you enjoy doing has potential to give you anxiety, and therefore anxiety-related physical symptoms. It is not uncommon to actually feel your heart breaking if the love of your life were to leave you. It’s not uncommon to feel sick to your stomach when you get fired and can’t get your weekly fix of a paycheck.

Many people are psychologically addicted to marijuana. Marijuana has proven to be physically non-addictive. Yet people do it every day. I used to be one of them. Whenever my supply ran out and I couldn’t find any, I would start to feel anxious and depressed, as well as irritable that I couldn’t “get my fix”.

Anything that you enjoy doing has potential for psychological addiction. Whether it be video games, sex, television, or drugs, it all has potential for addiction. But at least with psychological addiction, you never have to worry about real nasty physical withdrawal symptoms.

One way to beat psychological addiction is to believe that you are above it. You need to understand that cravings are just thoughts that are running through your head because you’ve broken a habit, and we humans love our habits. Yes, we are above our psychology. Be the master, not the slave.

Symptoms of video game addiction: as terrible as crack and crime?

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Mike

What are the symptoms of video game addiction

Anything that you enjoy doing has potential for addiction. We’re talking psychological addiction, not physical addiction. Whether its bike riding, masturbation, or video games, if you find it highly entertaining you may become addicted. Not all addictions are unhealthy. In fact, I’m of the mind that unless its physically addicting, its should be okay and there’s nothing wrong with it. People who are perceived as having an actual “addiction” to video games are known to have extended periods of time where they play non-stop, and the news media would prefer to think of this as extremely unhealthy, ranking it right up there with sex addiction and heroin addiction. This is extremely sad in my opinion. Yes, I get it…kids these days play less and less outside, favoring sitting in front of a TV instead of shooting hoops. But are video games really a worse-case scenario for kids? Isn’t it still better than drugs or crime?

I go through phases with video game addiction

I can definitely remember three phases in my life when I was addicted to video games. When I was 8, my parents bought me a Nintendo NES and I played Mario everyday after school. When I was 16, I got Final Fantasy VII for Christmas and dedicated they next three months to playing it repeatedly. Then when I was 25 I found myself addicted to World of Warcraft, and still play this on and off. Every few years or so I will start to feel the WoW itch and will subscribe for a few months, only to quit it having my fix fulfilled. In this scenario, it’s not hard to understand the constant comparisons by the news media to drug addiction: there is definitely a binge/purge element. But this really goes for anything you enjoy doing. You can only focus so much of your time and energy towards a type of entertainment before you tire of it and let it go. But I always know that some point in the future I will be getting myself back into it.

Violent video game addiction

This one’s a little more tricky. If you happen to be addicted to violent video games, you really need to ask yourself why you feel the need to play them. Do you feel you are one step away from hijacking cars and running over innocent pedestrians in real life and use video games as preventative measure? Or is the violence just a coincidental byproduct of quality game design? Obviously, one points to a healthier state of mind over the other…

Adrenaline Addiction: Symptoms and treatment of being a drama queen

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Mike

What is adrenaline addiction?

While on its face value, it would seem to be the type of disorder that only a bungee jumper or roller coaster enthusiast would have to deal with, adrenaline addiction is actually more involved with the emotional aspect of stress and how certain people seem to attract it into their lives. Simply put, someone who is addicted to adrenaline attracts drama and other stress into their lives.

Life as a Drama Queen (or King)

We all know at least one person in our lives who feed off of drama. It’s as if there is always something they are complaining about, something on their plate that they feel the need to stress over. They like to move from one bad relationship to another. They like to make issues at the workplace where no one else is finding issues. They always need the challenge that only manufactured stress could provide.

What causes adrenaline addiction?

It is basic human nature to solve problems. It may be wired into our DNA. The human mind is at its happiest when it is solving a problem. A healthy example of this is when we decide on a goal, such as losing weight or advancing our careers. But for one reason or another, some people chose not to partake in healthy goal-problems. Maybe they have an issue with avoiding these types of goal for a fear of failure. Either way, they have no healthy goals for them to dedicate their time to. They have no real problems to solve. The quick and easy solution to this is to invent some problems for themselves to solve.

Treatment for adrenaline addiction

The only real way to solve this issue if you discover yourself to be an adrenaline addict is to acknowledge the fact that you create your own problems. Next is to find other, more healthier and saner problems for you to set your mind to. For some people, it would be wise to re-evaluate their careers and focus on what will make them happy. For others, simple activities like dedicating time to a hobby will suffice.

Do I really need to see a psychiatrist? Anxiety medication may not be the answer

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Mike

What is a psychiatrist?

A psychiatrist is more or less medical doctor who specializes in mental disorders. They have a medical degree and are allowed to write prescription medications for psychological disorders, whereas I psychologist does not have a medical license and cannot write a prescription.

The real difference between psychiatrists and psychologists as it applies to us

Choosing between a psychiatrist and a psychologist is more or less choosing whether you would like to solve your anxiety problems with medication or through more natural means, like dealing with the thoughts in your head that are giving you the anxiety. Because it is actually the thoughts that are spinning around in our heads which are the root cause of our worries, it would make more sense to nip our fears in the bud, rather than put on a superficial band-aid to deal with our problems.

Do I need to see a psychiatrist?

I would have to say, “NO!”. Simply because there are cheaper and less harmful ways to ending panic and other problems with anxiety. If I had to choose between seeing a psychiatrist and seeing a psychologist, I would hands down chose the psychologist. At least you know they are not going to try to push pill down your throat. Anxiety medication is expensive and dangerous. Anyone who has taken them knows the side effects. I always felt lethargic and robotic. I was content with tolerating a lot of things in my life that were very contradictory toward my values. Medication allows you to settle for less. You become just another autonomous robot for somebody else to control. You don’t want or need to become a robot. You know you want the control in your life, so why would you want to resort to mind-altering substances to get through the day?

Who am I? I am who I am: the psychology of an identity crisis

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Mike

It’s all about how you identify with yourself

It is thought that in the field of psychology, the age of adolescence is an extremely pivotal time frame which determines how well-adjusted you are as an adult. Theory has it, that if a personal has difficulty creating an identity for themselves in adolescence, they will grow up confused about their place in the world and seek to create an identity any way they can, even through a negative identity, becoming a villain of sorts.

Who am I?

I can definitely see how this could effect someone like myself. I hit a major depression in life as I began adolescence. I was picked on at school and I developed an extremely lazy and apathetic attitude. Before adolescence, I was a pretty happy camper. I was one of the brightest in my class in grade school. I knew my place and this gave me self-confidence. As I entered grade school, I was no longer as confident. I was thrown into a different school with easily five times the student population as my grade school, add in the bullying and it left me at a time when I was extremely unsure of myself. My guidance councilor wanted to know what I wanted to do with my life. I honestly didn’t know. I failed to form an identity. Failed to form any type of values or goals that would lead me in a direction where I knew what to do with my life.

This is who I am

Now as an adult, I feel my identity is much clearer. What I wish someone had told me when I was in adolescence, was that I needed to know what my values were. I clearly remember taking this questionnaire that was supposed to tell me what I was good at, and my guidance councilor was supposed to lead me off in that direction. Apparently I was good at solidarity, but knowing this didn’t help with anything. Now I know I value independence, hard work, family, etc. If I had known this back then, I would have attempted to formulate a career out of these elements.

I am who I am

At the end of the day, all you can really do is understand what you value in life and accept that you have to put in the work and effort to put yourself in the position where you do activities which fulfill your values at any given moment. It took a lifetime of not understanding who I was to put in the effort to search for myself, and I feel I am much better off than most people who only have have a abstract picture of who they are.

I have no social life: but do I really need one?

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Mike

Is it okay not to have a social life?

If you had asked me not too long ago I would have said,”NO! You may be a failure as a human being if you neglect the basic instinctual desire to associate with others of your own species!” But these days I’m not so sure. I have grown to believe that there may be a staggering difference between being antisocial and just preferring to be alone. If you think you need more people in your life and you go to social events only to discover that you would rather be alone getting your own work done, then maybe the lack of socializing is not an issue. Look, I believe we all need at least SOME communication with the outside world and the people that inhabit it, but I don’t necessarily believe that we should be particularly dependent on any of them to fill a void in your life. If other people have little to no role in fulfilling your goals and realizing your values, it is best to acknowledge this and not to beat yourself up over it. It’s okay to have just a small circle of acquaintances that you associate with. Hopefully at the end of your days, you will be known for your values and what you believe in rather than how many friends you had.

How to have or improve a social life

If you feel you have no social life, and you feel you must have one, the obvious answer is to just get out there and see what happens. You will only know for sure unless you try. You need to decide what your values are and find places and events that coincide with these values. You will have a higher chance of running into people with similar values at these places. For example if you think being a self-sufficient business owner is a value that you must possess, then it would make sense to look up entrepreneur-type events that cater to these types and meet and greet at them. If you have an issue with anxiety or depression that you feel is holding you back, you should take comfort in knowing that everyone else has the same anxieties and self-doubt that you may have. It is wise to not let these feelings prevent you in any way from achieving your goals and doing things which reinforce your values.

Internet social networking vs. real life socializing

For many, it is much easier to communicate with people online using social networking sites than it is to deal with people face to face. I definitely think this is a growing problem. Let’s ponder a moment the real difference between online communication and real life socializing: on the internet, no eye contact is involved. For shy and antisocial people, eye contact is without a doubt a weak area for these people. They subconsciously fear others can peer into their souls and see their weaknesses and subsequently ridicule them, and ostracize them. Also, the communication is not in real-time. People don’t have to reply to others on the spot. They can wait until they think of an appropriate come-back to actually type it and out and send it. They don’t have to see the bodily reaction to the responses. We know that body language contributes to at least half of all communication. Without body language, the words just create an abstract picture and people are left communicating with less emotion and nuance and more ambiguity. It’s as if all of this combined frees up the psyche and improves confidence to a point that the person can comfortable communicate their feelings with others. Unfortunately there is a lot left that is unsaid and it is difficult to read between the lines of text. This is far inferior to actual one on one conversation, in person, in real-time.

School Related Stress: you’re not alone with the pressures of academic life

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Mike

Back to school stress

The stress of going back to school after summer vacation has been common in students since the beginning of modern schooling. Students have settled into their own routine with their friends, family, and daily activities. As the school year approaches yet again, a feeling of dread may occur in response to the unknown school year that lies ahead. Maybe you won’t like your new school-mates. Maybe you won’t like your new teachers. Maybe you won’t like your new classes. This amount of uncertainty crammed into the time frame of your first day and week at school is enough to set anyone on edge.

My stress in middle school

I think middle school can be the time of greatest stress for kids these days. I know it certainly was for me. This is the time in a young person’s life where they begin to go through puberty and experience all the potential change from the loss of childhood’s innocence. During this time, I went from grade school where I attended class with more or less the same people for the past seven years, to a school where all the grade school graduates were combined into one building. Sure new friendships emerged, but new rivalries and enemies surfaced as well. I clearly remember this being when my depression first began.

The stress of modern high school students

I think it is a fair assumption that high school students these days have it harder than previous generations. We live in a society of greater material superficiality. Kids these days feel obligated to keep up with the Jone’s kids. Unless values are taught at home that taking pride in what you have and what you accomplish in life is more important than who has the next flashy piece of electronics at school, the children will always feel left out. Add on top of this the amount of work they are expected to pour out of themselves to be accepted into their college of choice (or most likely, their parents’ college of choice), stress is always weighing upon the shoulders of students in high school.

Medical and nursing school stress

The growing demand in the medical and nursing fields has also increased the demand of students who wish to partake in these professions. We live in a time that is changing fast from a technological perspective and from a judicial perspective. But one thing that will never change, is that people will always need health care. The schooling required in this field results in some of the most stress possible for students. People are learning with the fact in their minds that someday someone’s life will be in their hands.

What the statistics are saying about how students are dealing with stress

Studies have shown that when it comes to school-related stress, boys will use distraction and avoidance techniques to cope with the anxiety, while girls will usually look to others for emotional support. This is no doubt related to social status quo: males are generally silent in expressing how they feel, preferring to bottle up their feelings to later explode in some pretty negative ways. Females on the other hand generally take no issue with talking about their feelings amongst themselves.

I think it is important to note that you are not alone when it comes to dealing with school-related stress. Every child that has potential to make something out of their life will experience it to some degree in the modern world. It is important to understand that anxiety and stress are completely natural and imperative to succeeding in any aspect of life.

Everything Feels Unreal: is anxiety making you feel emotionally detached from reality, the world, and your body?

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Mike

What is emotional detachment?

Simply put, emotional detachment is the inability to connect on an emotional level to those around you. You don’t feel the empathy that most people feel toward others. This is usually considered to be a bad thing. Even a terrible thing, as much of modern society pivots on the idea that we function best as a team. To make matters worse, we are expected to be team-players at school and in the workplace.

Emotional detachment makes reality feel unreal

I clearly remember being at work one day several years ago. I was at my workstation and I looked out at the customers in line at an ATM machine. Suddenly, I began to imagine that the scene was actually a painting and that I was just an observer of this painting that was put before me to trick me into believing a false reality. If I looked close enough, I could even see the brush strokes! That’s imagination for you! While I didn’t succumb to panic right then, I felt that if I really focused on it, panic would be inevitable. I’ll admit that much of this is simply the paranoia that the government or the creators of The Matrix are out to get me so I can in some way be a slave to them. But all this paranoia comes from some place. The roots grow deep.

Detachment from the body, the ultimate in unreality

Not long after, I was at my work station dealing with a customer, when suddenly it felt as if I was just a little ant and the customer was a giant of some sort. This change of perspective caused me to suck in a quick breath of air and I soon began hyperventilating. The first full blown panic attack in a long time was soon under way. I remember this as being the beginning of a new cycle of anxiety that had disappeared for close to a year.

What causes emotional detachment from the world? You’re not crazy, it’s just anxiety!

I believe that detachment is a conditioned response, meaning that it is learned after a lifetime of experiences. At first, detachment is a simple self-defense mechanism that protects you from anxiety-producing situations. For many, resorting to apathy is an instant band-aid for anxiety. If they no longer care about other people, they no longer worry about embarrassing themselves in front of other people. This works great at first, until you begin experiencing the terrible effects of this self-defense mechanism. Simply because everything you do over and over again becomes a conditioned response, you will eventually resort to apathy for every situation: from panic inducing ones, to relatively minor ones like personal hygiene and picking up the clutter around the house. It’s like using a shotgun to kill a fly on the wall: it will get the job done, but look how much damage is left in its wake?

I Feel So Empty Inside: What causes feelings of being empty and all alone

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Mike

Feeling empty inside

For most people, the empty feeling that we get from time to time is likely caused by a level of boredom that inhibits the mind when we end some type of psychological addiction. For one reason or another, we will end one addiction and the resulting freedom will be short lived. Not long after, we take another one up soon after. It is this area in between addictions that we feel most empty.

Feeling like you are empty and alone

There is without a doubt a correlation between antisocial behavior and addiction. Many people who feel anxiety and/or depression as a result of, or resulting in their antisocial behavior, often resort to addictive behavior to fill the void where they believe other people should be. To a substance abuser, a quick and dirty way to compensate for the lack of other people’s stimulation, is to fall under the spell of substances that allow them to mentally stimulate themselves and enjoy their own company.

I am a perfect example of this

I have had several addictions in my life. Throughout most of my life I have been addicted to at least one thing at any given time. I spent my childhood addicted to food. As a teen I had a psychological addiction to marijuana. Then marijuana and cigarettes. Then I got a job with random drug testing and had to quit smoking pot, and soon ballooned up gain from my renewed food addiction. Looking back, its not hard to see that I was desperately trying to fill a void. I was always a little antisocial. (Even to this day I would argue that I’m not actually antisocial, I just like to be alone). I’m pretty sure this led myself to assume that the natural highs from social interaction could be substituted with outside substances.

I now realize that not long after I had quit smoking pot for my job (and cigarettes because they’re expensive), I began to feel an emptiness inside of me. A void of sorts. I remembered what it felt like to be bored and under stimulated. I felt the need to consume. I started drinking every night. Even that wasn’t enough. I began to eat huge meals, and eat large portion of sweets for snacks in between meals.

The only reason I think I can all of this retrospectively, is because once again I am at a weird crossroads in my life. I wanted to lose weight to be a healthier person, so I started eating healthier foods and slowly weened myself off of overeating. I realize I never had an appreciation for the taste of food, and still don’t. I only ate to be full, to fill that void. But now that I have lost a bunch of weight and no longer feel the addiction to food, I feel that emptiness once again creep inside of me. It helps that I am not exactly alone this time around: I am married and have two beautiful canine children. But I feel empty inside nonetheless.

I firmly believe this time around I won’t succumb to another addiction, unless you consider self-improvement to be an addiction. I understand that psychological withdrawal is upon me and I have accepted that. I also know that mental cravings for “things” are just thoughts, and I am not my thoughts. I am a person.

I Feel Unmotivated: From teenagers and college students to adult employees

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Mike

The unmotivated child

Even when I was a little boy I never really wanted to do that much. All the other kids were playing outside with friends. I did all this, but it was like pulling teeth to get me to do anything. Looking back, I was pretty sure I had an early anxiety issue mixed with just a little bit of depression.

I feel I was one of many unmotivated students

I remember being in the seventh grade and failing to do my homework several times before my math teacher cracked the whip at me. This was the year when my depression at first reared its ugly head. In retrospect, it is not difficult to understand the rationale behind my lack of motivation. I was getting slightly bullied from these guys who were in my classes and overall I felt helpless. Any time I was faced with important tasks, such as homework or projects, I would think, “who cares, none of this will solve my problems”. Obviously it didn’t occur to me that not doing my work could ultimately cause me to fail out and have to endure more school and more potential bullying. But in the midst of emotional dilemmas such as depression or anxiety, short term emotion conquers over all potential long term outcomes.

Unmotivated teenager

And then on to my teen years, I almost failed out of high school my senior year. I was in an advanced business class, based on prior grades gained by a short-lived era of motivation. I had procrastinated the living crap out of my senior thesis and waited until the night before to even attempt it. I ended up getting by on just the skin of my teeth, but it was a lesson that I’ll never forget, yet somehow didn’t learn at the same time. It’s easy to blame it on equally unmotivated teachers. Yes, a lot of them couldn’t give a crap about individual students. We are one big revolving door to a lot of them. But I will take full responsibility for my own actions.

Unmotivated college student

As mentioned in previous posts, I failed out of college. I had thought it better to socialize and smoke weed than to focus on my academics, something that I still regret to a degree this day.

One of many unmotivated employees at work

Now at my day job, I consider myself to be quite the unmotivated employee. I can’t beat myself up to much over this because my co-workers for the most part are just as unmotivated.

Motivating the unmotivated

Whether it be at school or work, whether you are one of many unmotivated men or women, husband or wife, there is a common thread in all of this: Unmotivated people feel a lack of control. They figure they can’t change things for the better so why care in the first place? A sense of apathy envelopes their very being. It is important to have a sense of values and principals. These values and principals add up to sense of purpose in one’s life. If life was taken to strive toward the direction of your purpose, you wouldn’t have to worry about motivation.