The most generally accepted definition of addiction in the treatment and medical community is \u201ccontinued use in spite of negative consequences.\u201d\u00a0 The reason this designation has been given is to point out the leading indicator of those suffering with the addictive behaviors and compulsive disorders; and that is denial. \u00a0It is my intention in this article to point out negative consequences of the different types of addictive behaviors and compulsive disorders.\u00a0 In doing so, this gives us the opportunity to examine our own actions, as well as heighten our awareness of those around us.<\/p>\n
There are certainly different levels of addictions; we have used the term in this column \u201csoft addictions\u201d and \u201chard addictions.\u201d\u00a0 The consequences for the hard addictions have wide-sweeping impacts.\u00a0 The families, employers, co-workers, and many times innocent bystanders get caught in the dragnet of hard addictions.\u00a0 Try finding somebody who\u00a0hasn’t\u00a0been in some way affected by addiction, then let me know when you find one.<\/p>\n
Soft addictions, however, the consequences are mainly directed at the person in question.\u00a0 Typically, the soft-addictions person appears to have life pretty much all together.\u00a0 This person may simply being addicted to being lazy.\u00a0 They will sit around every chance they get, doing very little physical exercise, if any.\u00a0 Their body over time begins to suffer the negative fallout and breaks down earlier than it should. \u00a0Sloth is a very common form of dependence that typically goes untreated.<\/p>\n
With the computer age well in hand, obsessive and compulsive use of the internet and our wireless devices has taken over the lives of many.\u00a0 I have already written a blog on this called \u201cBeyond the Big Five.\u201d\u00a0 The typical results from seeking the brain reward chemicals from our electronics is that we become very removed from social interaction. The instant gratification we receive temporarily relieves the need for companionship.\u00a0 Like all addictions, however, our tolerance grows and we seek more and more gratification from the virtual reality we have created.<\/p>\n
Food addiction is a very complicated subject, and even more complicated to evaluate.\u00a0 There are those for whom food takes on the form of a hard addiction.\u00a0 For some, it is clear that the negative consequences of obesity signals the need for treatment; however, many of us can have less damaging addictive traits surrounding our food.\u00a0 I have noticed in my life that when I overindulge in sugars, that my mental and spiritual connection are diminished.\u00a0 This is clearly a negative consequence in my life, yet some days I will still partake in this behavior.\u00a0 Although the softer food addiction still has many adverse effects on our lives, they are nonetheless obstacles to experiencing joy in its fullest form.<\/p>\n
The sex addict who fathers eight children with eight different women, all the while being married to the same person over the entire time, is suffering the consequences of addiction and at the same time causing a giant ripple of destruction in the lives of all the people involved. \u00a0The “hot” school teacher who knows full well that having any relationship with a student, let alone a sexual one, and proceeds to do so without regard for \u201cwhat is true,\u201d will experience the wrath of negative consequences sooner or later.\u00a0 We have seen this countless times, so much so that we don\u2019t even seem to be upset by it anymore, unless of course the teacher isn\u2019t \u201chot\u201d or a female.<\/p>\n
The \u201clighter\u201d side of sex addiction is pornography.\u00a0 This, very much like the internet addiction, is a compulsion of solitude. The effect this has on a person can be seen in their outward body, as well as their social interaction.\u00a0 Any meaningful relationship becomes compromised at some point.\u00a0 Trust boundaries are trampled on and self-esteem issues abound for those involved with the porn addict.\u00a0 Without treatment, this person ends up leading a very lonely life.<\/p>\n
As with all addictions and compulsive disorders, denial is the obstacle to recovery.\u00a0 In many cases, not only is the addict in denial, but the family members will be as well.\u00a0 Our society has one major addiction that most of us indulge in, that is the reliance upon a belief that we don\u2019t need help from anyone. \u201cWe can do it ourselves\u201d we say, without having the first clue where to turn.<\/p>\n
The definition of denial is the refusal to accept what is true.\u00a0 Truth as we all know comes in many flavors.\u00a0 The truth we are talking about here is what is observably true.\u00a0 It is fairly safe to say that given the information in today\u2019s society, if a person gets caught driving while intoxicated one time. they made a huge mistake and showed terrible judgment.\u00a0 If that same person then repeats that behavior and has a second offense, they have crossed the line into addiction.\u00a0 The non-addicted person who gets a DUI never<\/em>\u00a0makes that mistake again.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth will set you free\u201d it is said, and recovery from all types of addiction require it.\u00a0 We must tell truth about\u00a0our self\u00a0 to\u00a0our self\u00a0\u00a0 We then should tell the truth to\u00a0our self\u00a0about someone else.\u00a0 Once we get to this point, we will then be willing to tell the truth about\u00a0our self\u00a0to another.\u00a0 When we get to a higher place of evolution, we will begin to\u00a0 tell the truth about another to that other, and this is service to humanity.\u00a0 At this point, we begin to tell the truth to everyone about everything.\u00a0 This is how the world evolves. \u00a0This is how we create peace on earth and goodwill towards men.<\/p>\n (Kevin McCormack is a Conversations with God Life Coach, a Spiritual helper on\u00a0<\/em>www.changingchange.net<\/span><\/a><\/span>, and an Addictions recovery advisor.\u00a0 You can visit his website for more information at<\/em>\u00a0<\/i>www.Kevin-Spiritualmentor.com<\/span>\u00a0<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/i>To connect with Kevin, please email him at\u00a0<\/em>Kevin@theglobalconversation.com<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/span>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The most generally accepted definition of addiction in the treatment and medical community is \u201ccontinued use in spite of negative consequences.\u201d\u00a0 The reason this designation has been given is to point out the leading indicator of those suffering with the addictive behaviors and compulsive disorders; and that is denial. \u00a0It is my intention in this […]<\/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":[196,611,939,825,938,195,459,186,819,693],"class_list":["post-4070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction-and-recovery","tag-aa","tag-co-dependency","tag-consequences","tag-denial","tag-hard-addictions","tag-kevin-mccormack","tag-na","tag-recovery","tag-soft-addictions","tag-truth-telling"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4070","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=4070"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4078,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4070\/revisions\/4078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}