7 Signs You Have a Behavioral Addiction: Address & Treat

Generally, people exhibit several behaviours, some good and some bad. The continuous engagement with these behaviors becomes an addiction for the body. This article, 7 signs you have a behavioral addiction, will help you know how the signs lead to negative consequences in various areas of life and body. Most of the time, individuals go through certain uncommon behavioral signs unknowingly, such as repeated disruptive disorder, mood swings and an inability to resist harmful impulses.

While noticing excessive amounts of certain behaviors or any signs and symptoms of behavioral addiction, you should seek addiction treatment and consult with professionals to know everything about this issue. Gather all information from the whole article to understand the unhealthy signs, symptoms, risk factors and process to deal with behavioral addiction.

Behavioral Addiction: Key Signs, Risk Factors & Recovery

What is Behavioral Addiction?

The inability of a person to carry forward a particular behavior in an unknown manner is basically denoted as behavioral addiction. It is very unhealthy for a normal life that troubles not only the addicted person but also the surrounding people as well. These obsessive behaviors repeats time to time and hamper the normal flow of life. Also, it is harmful for relationships, daily work and overall well-being. This repeated behavior damages the financial, mental, physical and social effects of an individual’s life.

Though the professionals believe that certain addictions do not exist, the activities grow day by day to impair daily functioning, such as shopping, gambling, sex and the internet. Joining the rehab programs for behavioral addiction recovery.

Different Types of Behavioral Addiction

Understanding the different kinds of behavior helps know the behavior, intensity and resolving process earlier. All types of behavior has its own set of addiction warning signs, symptoms, causes and rehab process. Several types of behavior addictions are mentioned below.

• Addiction to exercise
• Addiction to gambling
• Work addiction
• Shopping addiction
• Internet addiction
• Video game addiction
• Food addiction
• Social media sharing

7 Signs and Symptoms of A Behavioral Addiction

There are several signs identified during behavioral health issues that include loss of control over its duration, withdrawal symptoms and preoccupation with the behavior. Early identification of symptoms is very helpful to take necessary precautions and stop the addiction from growing. The 7 signs of behavioral addiction are listed below.

1. Changes in mood or behavior

Addiction is often a silent transformation that begins with subtle shifts in emotional patterns and personal behavior. When someone struggles with substance use disorder, their mood and conduct can become unpredictable and dramatically different from their typical personality.

2. Neglecting responsibilities at home or work

It destroys a person’s ability to manage everyday responsibilities, including increased conflicts with co-workers, decline in work output, failure to meet project deadlines, continuous tardiness and absence from work. While recognizing early signs of addiction is difficult, if you notice any changes in behavior, that is the right time to visit the doctor.

3. Physical health decline & unusual injuries

Addiction not only impacts mental and physical well-being but also causes the physical transformation of the body. 

4. Committing the behavior to the maturity of time

It makes a person feel like they have resolved all their problematic habits. It means that they spend a great time thinking about and committing the behavior to the point of neglecting everyday responsibilities at work or at home and this way they lose their family, friends and other priorities.

5. Dependence on behavior as a coping mechanism for emotions

Alcohol addiction is a common example of dependence behavior. Likewise, individuals become addicted to the behaviors to escape emotional pain. It is very harmful and while controlling this behavior, it comes with worse behavior.

6. Failing in attempts to stop engaging in the addictive behavior

After multiple attempts, an individual fails to stop committing unusual behavior because their brain still needs to adjust. It also tries to rebuild the harmful connections while they were at the peak of their addiction.

7. Behaving withdrawal symptoms when attempting to stop

While trying to cut back on compulsive habits can lead to withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, irritation, restlessness and a high level of urges to engage in that addictive behavior once again.

Possible Risk Factors

Most behaviors that become addictive begin normally with healthy activities. Initially, it is very easy to recognize and tackle the behavioral addiction signs. But generally, it’s quite confusing and difficult to identify before it gets worse. Behavioral addiction can be caused due to several reasons, such as psychological trauma, environmental stressors and genetic predispositions. These are also the major risk factors responsible for the development of compulsive behaviors that provide relief and pleasure for some time. Its continuous repetition leads to serious addiction.

The genetic mental disorders and long time addictions history are the most important and noticeable risk of behavioral addiction. Some personality traits, like doing adventurous activities, affection and rash action, are also the major risks that later on cause uncontrollable behavioral addiction issues. Consult with the professionals for a proper addiction help guide.

Behavioral Addiction Treatment Options

Behavioral addiction is very common in human life. Continuing any behavior without any knowledge leads to addiction and that can affect the brain and the body badly. Nowadays, several treatment approaches are conducted to handle these abnormal behaviors in the initial stage. Understand the treatment processes below.

• Cognitive behavioral therapy – Helps an individual to understand and change the relation of feelings, behavior and thoughts.
• Medications – There are no dedicated medications available for behavioral addiction treatment. But SSRI antidepressants have some benefits to address some specific addictive behavior like sex addiction.
• Group therapy – It provides people with peer support to help them feel less alone and keeps them connected to a group of people.
• Other treatments – Other therapies, like couples and family counselling helps additionally to identify and resolve certain behavioral issues.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What makes substance addiction different from behavioral addiction?

If you compare behavioral addiction vs substance addiction, you can notice that no physical substances exists in between them. The behavior refers to certain activities that hamper a person’s daily life. On the other hand, taking substances like alcohol or drugs becomes addicted and cause behavioral changes.

How can you help a loved one overcome a behavioral addiction?

It is very tough to help a loved one stay out of any behavioral addiction. In some cases, direct conversation also works and starts the recovery by following the suggestions but when things get out of hand, nothing works properly instead of therapy. Homely care can overcome behavioral addiction in the early stage.

How Does Behavioral Addiction Differ From OCD?

The core motivations of OCD make it different from behavioral addiction. The behavioral addiction occurs due to the repetition of an activity and giving more attention to a behavior, while OCD focuses on intrusive thoughts and repeated behaviors to reduce anxiety and depression.

Conclusion

Behavioral addictions are unfavorable for human health. In regular life, people notice unusual changes in their behavior but they ignore them. While exhibiting any abnormal signs or symptoms in behavior, you should be alert immediately and take necessary precautions to counter or rehab the behavioral addiction. Explore the major signs, treatment process, impacts on health and different types of behavioral addictions from this article. If you are confused and worried about the behavioral changes, visit the experts and rehab centers to get well faster.