When you think of adjectives for addiction, the first words that usually come to mind are alcohol and drug. You can probably add smoking
to that list, and maybe food. These are substance addictions. But there are other mood-altering behaviors and activities out there that do not
appear harmful on the surface.
Called process addictions, these can include activities like
gambling, shopping or spending, exercise, sex, work, video games, the internet, and cell phones.
Just looking at this list, you can readily see that these behaviors are not harmful when used in moderation. They become a problem
when you have the urgent need to continue the activity despite the consequences. That’s when they turn into full-blown addictions.
When we get involved in a behavior with the purpose of masking pain or stuffing our feelings, we are using that behavior as an addiction.
A process addiction can be as debilitating as drug or alcohol addiction. As a result, a process addiction is every bit as serious.
Process Addictions as a Replacement for Alcohol or Drugs
Many people suffering substance abuse are also addicted to another substance or behavior.
They develop a process addiction while trying to resolve their drinking or drug issues.
Those in the early stages of recovery from chemical dependency are particularly susceptible to process addiction issues.
It’s that whole thing about people who manage to get sober, but then they gain 100 pounds. Or they start going to the casino and losing money.
Process addiction is something that can be a part of chemical dependency, or it can seek to replace chemical usage following a period of
abstinence from the substance.
Treating Process Addictions
Therapy can help for those suffering from process addiction much the same way as it helps with recovery from substance abuse.
In the safety of therapy, you can begin to explore when it was that this activity started to become problematic. Then we look at what
are the trigger points for the usage of that process addiction. After that, we begin to discover and deal with unresolved and underlying emotional
issues that led to problematic process addiction use.
For example, those with a gambling addiction often have underlying and unprocessed anger issues. What we do is stop doing the gambling,
but beyond that provide a strong anger management program so they are not at risk with gambling addiction. We explore and resolve the
emotional and psychological issues in hopes of securing long-term abstinence from the addiction.
Unresolved issues are a platform to springboard into acting out with compulsive behavior and process addiction. We seek to dismantle the
psychological issues that allow that behavior to exist.
I recognize that each process addiction has its own unique factors. Those factors are different for those with a shopping addiction
as for those, say, with an internet pornography addiction. As a result, a different set of clinical interventions might be used to
resolve each addiction. As a Registered Addiction Specialist, I am both knowledgeable and experienced in process addiction.
If you or a loved one has signs of process addiction, call me 
. You can also choose a link below for more information
on different process addictions:
