compulsive behavior
Compulsive behavior is behavior which a person does compulsively—in other words, not because they want to behave that way, but because they feel they have to do so. Mental health professionals have identified signs of compulsive behavior in various disorders such as obsessive–compulsive disorder and drug addiction.
Posted under Shopping
15 Million Americans Struggle With Uncontrollable Spending
For the 15 million who struggle with out of control spending in the U.S., the holiday season can be extremely challenging, says the American Psychological Association. Just checking emails can be a constant struggle to control urges to spend money. Experts say also that with all the so-called "online deals" and "free upgrades" controlling these impulses reaches an all-time high during the holidays. Continue Reading
Posted under Food Addiction
Food Addiction Symptoms Similar to Those of Drug Addiction
A research team from York University in Toronto will soon be presenting study results which compare food addiction to drug addiction and alcoholism. The team, led by Dr Caroline Davis, was particularly interested in discovering biological and psychological risk factors which could be relevant in the treatment of obesity. Dr Davis believes that her research will facilitate identification of obesity subsets and thereby give forward momentum toward development of more personalized obesity treatment.
Posted under Sex Addiction
The Perfect Storm: What To Do When Your Compulsive Sexual Behavior Leads To Disaster
Sneaking around and lying to your partner about where you’ve been and who you’ve been spending time with? If your sexual behavior has gone beyond your committed relationship and you find yourself unable or unwilling to give up this compulsivity, you may be on the road to disaster in more ways than one.
Posted under Science & Research
New Method Could Predict Sensation-Seeking Behavior Such as Drug Addiction
The urge to do exciting things, called sensation seeking, is associated with dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain. A new study discovered a group of mutations in genes in the dopamine system that help predict whether someone is more likely to be a sensation seeker. Sensation seeking is often associated with disorders such as drug and alcohol addiction and other compulsive behaviors.
Jaime Derringer, a PhD student at the University of Minnesota and the first author of the study, said that not everyone with the predisposition toward sensation seeking ends up being a drug addict, adding that it’s all in how you channel your sensation-seeking behavior. Derringer wanted to study the genetics of sensation seeking using a new technique.
Derringer used a mutation in DNA called a single-nucleotide polymorphism, or SNP, which is a change in one “letter” of DNA. She chose eight genes related to dopamine and examined 635 people who were involved in a study on addiction. She had genetic information on 273 SNPs known to appear in those eight genes for each person, as well as a score for their inclination towards sensation seeking. Continue Reading
Posted under Work Addiction
Compulsive Work Addiction
With the national unemployment rate hovering at 10 percent – and higher in some hard-hit areas of the country – anyone who is still employed is understandably worried about the future. Will they still have a job tomorrow, next week or next month? What do they have to do to keep their job? And, with so many companies downsizing within the last year, the remaining workers simply have to do more work to pick up the slack. But even without the current economic downturn, the simple truth is that more and more Americans are slaves to their jobs. In short, they suffer from a condition known as compulsive work addiction.
According to a recent University of California Santa Barbara study, more than 31 percent of college-age male workers worked more than 50 hours per week on a regular basis. That’s just one study. Corporations know that compulsive work addiction and burnout are a serious problem and many have engaged consultants or initiated programs to try to deal with the issue. This isn’t compassion on their part. Lost productivity due to burnout, workplace stress and compulsive work addiction can seriously impact the bottom line.
But here we’re concerned with the effects of compulsive work addiction on the individual and his or her family and friends.
Burnout versus Compulsive Work Addiction
Classic burnout is a very serious condition that involves physical, mental and emotional symptoms that intensify over time. Without treatment, burnout leads to clinical depression. Work addiction is a very different condition whose roots often lie in the individual’s childhood. But, similar to burnout, without treatment, the worst-case scenarios end in the same type of clinical depression. Both burnouts and work addicts seem to be driven, committed, dedicated and completely identified with their jobs. It’s the internal mechanism that is different. Work addiction is internally like an addiction to alcohol, drugs or gambling in that the addict has to have the fix – in this case, the fix that work provides. He or she simply can’t do without it.
It is important here to further differentiate between a hard worker (or Type A personality) and a workaholic. The hard worker appears, in many respects, to have the same traits as the workaholic. Yet they are always able to set healthy boundaries, clearly delineating work from play or non-work. Driven by underlying emotional issues, the compulsive work addict is characterized by compulsive behaviors. Workaholics never take vacations, or they bring their work with them on the vacation. Research, however, shows that too much work without balance and rest will eventually result in breakdown. Compulsive work addiction is extremely dangerous to your health.
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Everything you need to know to help a loved one struggling with addiction, from the writers and editors of Everything Addiction.
