Can you remember back to the first time you used alcohol or drugs? Picture yourself as you were that day. Think about the circumstances that surrounded taking your first drink or drug. Think about where you were and who you were with. Did you enjoy the feeling the drink orContinue Reading
It is estimated that more than two percent of adults and between three and eight percent of teens, college students and young adults suffer from gambling disorder. (Splevins et al., 2010; Griffiths, 2006) There is a definite distinction between this disorder and social gambling. (APA 2013) Gambling disorder is definedContinue Reading
Shopping Addiction is unlike what is typically considered a psychological disorder. After all, we are all encouraged to shop. Shopping is an honorable thing. When we think of addictions, back room gambling and smoke-filled bars come to mind – and of course drug addiction. Not very honorable activities. Kid inContinue Reading
Smoking cigarettes usually begins during early adolescence. It is especially common among students who get low grades, drop out of school, feel less confident and not in control of their futures, and whose friends, parents and siblings also smoke (Chassin et al, 1987). Does this close link between teenage smokingContinue Reading
Habits are learned behaviors, or behavior patterns unlike instincts and motivations, that are embedded genetic traits. Habits are acquired by frequent use and repetition, as in an addiction or in swearing, for example that make up the structure of one’s personality. Primal vs Inherited Habits are dictated by these fourContinue Reading
We all develop habits, good and bad, throughout our lives. Frequent repetition of the same thinking and behavior patterns is how habits are formed. Practicing faulty thinking and behavior over long periods becomes engrained and is part of our second-nature. So, if that is true, the same frequent repetition canContinue Reading
Recently, the need to save and accumulate items, known as hoarding, has been added to the American Psychiatric Association’s classification system: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). People diagnosed with hoarding disorder persistently feel they must save items and experience great distress if they attemptContinue Reading
In the addict’s world there is ongoing tension between a person’s normal self and the addicted self. A Jekyll-and-Hyde struggle emerges. The addictive system is so compelling that the addict feels it would be deadly to stop it. Yet, as the system continues, the person’s values, priorities and loved onesContinue Reading
Online gaming was officially recognized as a mental illness by the World Health Orgahization (WHO) in June, 2018, adding it to the International Classification of Diseases according to Newsweek Magazine. For Online Gaming Disorder to be considered an addiction, the condition must extend beyond normal playing, to a point whereContinue Reading
Children with Less Screen Time Have Improved Cognition Children aged 8-11 who sleep nine to eleven hours per night experience better cognition and academic performance if they have at least one hour of physical activity during the day and spend less than two hours watching a computer or smartphone screen.Continue Reading