Soft addictions are patterns of behavior we develop as coping mechanisms. \u00a0These so-called addictions are considered endogenous in the treatment community.\u00a0 What this means is that the end result of the behavior is an internal release of reward chemicals in the brain.<\/p>\n
Human beings are all reward driven.\u00a0 Some of us like the reward of excitement, that feeling of being \u201con top of the world,\u201d and there are others who seek to feel more repressed or subdued. \u00a0Regardless of which you are, you would not choose to continue to live if you could not experience an emotional reward.<\/p>\n
Truly depressed people will share that their life is dark and empty, with no meaning.\u00a0 These people are experiencing a life with little or no reward; and many who are truly in this place choose to end their lives.\u00a0 It has been said that no normally functioning person could imagine what the person whose brain chemistry lacking in reward chemicals experiences.<\/p>\n
These naturally occurring chemicals are either dopamine or serotonin, and they control our moods.\u00a0 When we have extra dopamine flowing, we are considered \u201chigh\u201d or excited.\u00a0 When we inhibit our serotonin levels, we are mellow or maybe even depressed.\u00a0 Just for the sake comparison, cocaine is considered to be a dopaminergic drug; it increases the amount of dopamine in the synapses of the brain, giving us the reward of a high.\u00a0 Alcohol is considered gabainergic, which is a depressant.\u00a0 Alcohol acts to lower serotonin levels throughout the body.<\/p>\n
When we find a particular behavior that seems to work to bring the desired result, some of us become dependent on them.\u00a0 When this dependency stops us from maturing and developing other coping mechanisms, that addiction takes place.\u00a0 The difficulty in diagnosis is that most of the so-called “soft” addictions are common behaviors that, much like drugs and alcohol, if consumed correctly and with moderation, are very normal human actions. \u00a0What defines them as addictions is also the same as with drugs: \u00a0\u201crepeated usage in spite of negative consequences.\u201d\u00a0 You will see this phrase used in this column often.<\/p>\n
When you lose multiple jobs from being tardy or absent, you may want to see if you are continuing unhelpful behaviors in spite of negative consequences.<\/p>\n
If you find your partners, whether they be spouse or other, continue to leave you, citing your behavior, it may be time to see if you have been repeating behaviors that bring negative consequences.<\/p>\n
Do you know all the first names of the police officers in your town because they have all given you tickets?\u00a0 This is continued dangerous driving in spite of negative consequences. \u00a0And just to let you know, when a normal driver, one who is not seeking brain-reward chemicals from speeding or running red lights, gets a ticket, they take the blame for it and see to it that it never happens again.\u00a0 Okay, I\u2019ll admit, I needed to hear that and see it in writing as well!\u00a0 My own son termed me a \u201chabitual traffic offender.\u201d\u00a0 Nothing like the innocence of a young one to help break down your denial!<\/p>\n
Do your friends not want to hang out with you anymore because you argue all the time?\u00a0 Have you ever admitted to being wrong about something?\u00a0 Have you admitted you were wrong just to win another argument and be proven right again?\u00a0 Has anyone ever called you \u201cMr. or Mrs. Right,” first name “Always”? \u00a0The addiction to being right could be one of the most damaging behavioral defects in our society. The effects are very clear to all but those who are smitten by this very divisive, anti-social, ego-driven compulsion.<\/p>\n
These are just a few of the soft addictions that plague humanity and keep us from experiencing our full potential as Triune Beings.\u00a0 The willingness to look at ourselves and do a simple inventory of our lives and experiences we have had can unlock the door to the freedom and joy that we all say we wish to experience.\u00a0 The world outside of us does not need to change for this to happen, and we would do well to stop waiting for the world to change before we do.<\/p>\n
Recovery is a personal journey that starts when we turn our focus inward and confront the reality which is our lives to date. \u00a0Every act is an act of self-definition, meaning everything we have said or done is who we are.\u00a0 The hardest thing to do is give ourselves an honest and open appraisal.\u00a0 The help of another person on the same journey is extremely important for us to arrive at our own truth.<\/p>\n
Denial is the biggest obstacle to recovery.\u00a0 When we continuously place the blame of negative experiences outside of ourselves, we are in a reactive pattern.\u00a0 Keep this in mind: \u00a0When you have one finger pointing at someone or something other than yourself, you have three fingers pointing back at you.<\/p>\n
(Kevin McCormack is a Conversations with God Life Coach, a Spiritual helper on <\/em>www.changingchange.ne<\/span>t<\/a>, and an Addictions recovery advisor.\u00a0 You can visit his website for more information at www.Kevin-Spiritualmentor.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0 To connect with Kevin, please email him at<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Kevin@theglobalconversation.com<\/em><\/span>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Soft addictions are patterns of behavior we develop as coping mechanisms. \u00a0These so-called addictions are considered endogenous in the treatment community.\u00a0 What this means is that the end result of the behavior is an internal release of reward chemicals in the brain. Human beings are all reward driven.\u00a0 Some of us like the reward of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[196,820,825,821,195,824,459,822,823,819,718],"class_list":["post-3575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction-and-recovery","tag-aa","tag-american-college-of-addictionology","tag-denial","tag-endogenous","tag-kevin-mccormack","tag-mr-right","tag-na","tag-recovery-treatment","tag-sober","tag-soft-addictions","tag-twelve-steps"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3575"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3578,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions\/3578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}