In this blog post I'm going to be discussing addiction. Even though some people think that addiction can only be to drugs or alcohol, you can literally be addicted to anything. Some people also think that only certain types of people have addictions and that it's not a very common thing, when in fact about one in three people have some form of addiction. I, personally, have an addiction, I know of many of my close friends addictions. It is more common than people think, and even though it's something that a lot of people joke about it can be really serious.
By definition the meaning of the word addiction is:
Noun the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity.
Being addicted by definition means:
Adjective physically and mentally dependent on a particular substance.
My addiction is one that I'm still battling with, I've had it for a long time and I don't think it's something I will ever completely get over. My addiction is to self harm, I'm a lot better with it than I was when I was at the height of my addiction. I had a period of being self harm free for about two years, but then I had a relapse when I went to uni and have been on and off with it since then. For me, the self harm was a coping mechanism and a way of dealing with the horrible things that was going on in my life.
You can literally be addicted to anything though, my addiction was self harm, but you can be addicted to drugs, alcohol, internet, shopping, sex, gambling, coffee, food, work, solvents... the list could be endless. I use to know someone who had an addiction to Wotsits and physically couldn't cope without their three packets of Wotsists a day. It sounds silly, but it was true, if she didn't get them she would literally break down and couldn't cope.
The development of addiction is something that I find really fascinating, but that's probably because I use to study psychology as an A Level and the way in which our brain works is so interesting to me. I'm a nerd, I know. Addictions can start in a number of different ways, with things such as drugs you can get addicted to how it makes you feel physically and mentally, and then you get the urge to get that feeling back. This is the way that other addictions can start as well, my addiction with self harm came from wanting to be able to feel something and then the high I got from it. I got a feeling of being better and that it sorted out how I was feeling... if only for 10 minutes or so. I wanted to get that feeling of being okay back, so it became more and more regular until I was doing it several times a day.
The worst thing about addicted to something is the withdrawal symptoms you have from it. I remember when I was trying to get clean from self harm, I would literally feel as though I was dying. It felt so much easier to carry on with the self harm than live with the withdrawal symptoms that I was suffering. I would get the shakes, I would cry, I would want to pull my hair out, I would beg and beg people to let me have things that were sharp, or give me my straighteners. It was honestly, so horrible. I hated it so much.
Addictions can take over your life and become your main priority rather than anything else in your life. It's the only thing you'll be to think about, it will consume everything. You can lose friends due to the addiction and your family may even have to leave too. Addictions are so hard to overcome, but it's so important that you get help with them.
There are so many charities out there to help people with addiction, and it's so important to get as much help as possible to get over it. You will probably always have an addiction, and there will always be an underlying problem there. Relapse is always a possibility, but it's how you deal with the relapse and make sure it's not something that happens all the time, just so you don't get back into that cycle of addiction.
For more information on addiction I'll put a couple of links at the end. I'm not sure if I've made much sense in this blog post, but I hope that it's given you guys a little insight into addiction and my experiences of it.
Stay awesome.
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