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Addictions

Many people develop an addiction to an activity or substance that allows them to temporarily feel good or escape emotional or physical pain. Addictions commonly take the form of substance abuse of alcohol or drugs. However, they can also occur in the form of gambling, shopping, internet use, or sexual addictions.

Although everybody has habit-forming tendencies, some people are more susceptible to developing an addiction due to genetic factors, learned behaviours, or personality type. Most people with an addiction will require some form of treatment to help them break their addictive behaviour, which is where counselling can help.

What are the warning signs of addiction?

After a varying amount of time, some people find that their addiction is problematic and has a number of negative consequences. Signs that you may have an addiction include:

  • Your day to day responsibilities such as at work or home are being affected
  • Your relationships are being adversely affected
  • You have unsuccessfully tried to cut down or stop the addiction

In cases of substance addiction:

  • You feel unwell or moody without the substance (withdrawal) and feel normal upon resuming use
  • You begin to need more of a substance to have the same effect
  • You organise events around substance use
  • You need the substance to cope with everyday life

How counselling can help

Addictions often occur as a result of unresolved emotional problems. By not dealing with these emotional problems, addictions can often worsen over time to the point of destroying one's life and relationships.

Throughout the counselling process, a psychologist will aim to uncover the cause of an addiction and discover trigger points for addictive behaviour. They will also take the relevant steps in helping to control and eliminate the addiction over time, such as breaking addictive patterns, learning coping strategies to manage day to day stressors, and changing negative thinking patterns.

How Life Resolutions can help

Life Resolutions has a network of qualified psychologists, some who specialise in addictions. If you are using substances to cope with other issues such as stress, grief and loss, or relationship issues our psychologists can help you to overcome these problems.

Visit the Contact Us page to make an appointment.