Addictions: do you know how many you have?

By Dr Stephen Carroll
Updated July 12 2017 - 3:59pm, first published 9:30am

HEALTH ADVICE

Addictions

If you feel that you may have an addiction or a compulsion to carry out certain behaviours, talk to your healthcare provider.
If you feel that you may have an addiction or a compulsion to carry out certain behaviours, talk to your healthcare provider.

How many things do you think people may be able to be addicted to? Well, we have the usual suspects of alcohol, tobacco, drugs and gambling. But there are many more that may seem harmless like shopping, the internet and sex. When a person becomes addicted to something or a substance their whole life changes. Slowly and subtly at first but the changes are there. The chemistry in our body changes and we need more and more of our addiction “thing” to get the same feeling. Substances like alcohol and other drugs contain substances that cause us to become chemically dependent as well. Despite what we think the drive to have more of the thing that we are addicted to can never be managed. The thing which originally gave us pleasure now begins to harm us. It will take over and rule our lives.

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