Question by Symphanic: Help with addiction project?
I need small info on Gambling, Food, Tv, Computer, Gaming, Shopping and Text addiction. it needs to be small information though. I just need to know what it is and what it’s caused by.

Best answer:

Answer by Jerry
Perform Google searches on those subjects, like “addiction; gambling; information” etc. There are some personality types vulnerable to addiction. All of my grandparents, and both parents are addicts of some sort. So am I, and my brother. I have learned to change my addictions into less harmful ones, then neutral, and finally, socially beneficial, helping people with mental health problems.

“One of the biggest problems of addiction began with the initial desire to increase and continue to use an addictive substance. All of us who have gotten to the point of overdoing the consumption of a substance were basically, in some manner, filling a need to be what we thought was “normal” like other people. We were convinced we were unworthy, inadequate, afraid, and lonely whenever we compared ourselves to others. We disconnected and isolated ourselves, not only from our peers, but also from our own real selves. We lived in a world of fantasy. Our problem was more than a physical hunger for the things that made us dependent.

It was also not dealing with crazy thinking, self-defeating behavior, and screwed-up emotions. Today, I’ll remember addiction is two-fold: one was my substance use and the other was an irrational thinking pattern. ‘He who helps a friend in woe is like a warm coat, when in the snow.’ –Russian Proverb.

We came in from a very hard life when we came into recovery, kind of like coming in from a blizzard in Siberia! The old life was dangerous, cold, and lonely, and it forced us to use all our energy just to survive. Sooner or later it would have killed us. We were definitely in woe. Someone – a family member, a friend, a boss, a probation officer – offered us a chance to get sober. That person saved our life, as surely as if he or she walked out into a blizzard and wrapped around us like a warm coat. We accepted the help this time. In the future we will have the chance to help others who are still out there freezing in the blizzard of addiction.

We can offer them the kind of help that saved our life. We can’t make them accept our help though. We just keep it handy, like a warm coat, in case they reach out to accept it. Is there an alcoholic or an addict in my life I wish I could help? I realize that my example is the best way to show them recovery”.

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