We are going to talk about four behaviors of the human being that, when they go out of control, can become real addiction problems despite the fact that technically they are not substances .

Gambling, a game that is not a game

Linked to enjoyment and recreation, the bingo or casino can provide all the necessary condiments for an unforgettable night: good food, music, drinks, fun. Also can be unforgettable if you cannot stop playing , if you “invest” your salary, ask for and owe money, sell your car, among other unimaginable things…

We will talk about ludopathy if gambling gets out of hand, becomes compulsive, uncontrolled, until arriving at desperate instances where the deterioration not only appears from the economic point of view , but also on a family, work and personal level. It is one of the most frequent addictions without substances in Western countries.

Every excuse is valid to play again

If you win, your motivation is invaded and you will play again to increase your winnings . “I’m in luck today”. If you lose, you will play again to recover what you have lost, to raise your spirits, or to try to get out of the negative consequences of having lost. “If I win back what I lost, no one will know what I lost, they won’t even know I came.

For the closest environment, upon noticing the problem, bingo becomes a forbidden place for the gambler, which will imply for him to have to hide it every time he attends, lie or look for excuses to go to bingo.

It’s always night

The architecture of bingo, without windows and strategically thought out, makes it impossible to discover when it stops being night and starts being dawn, which facilitates compulsion and lack of limits. The loss of the notion of time is something key in the addiction to the game . So is the false belief that a gambler can choose when to go to bingo and when to leave, as if he could handle it.

If there is addiction, it will be very difficult to control the frequency and duration of the stay at the bingo. Therefore, it is a behavior that should be paid close attention to. If gambling stops being pleasant and starts being compulsive, necessary and problematic, it is no longer a game.

Addictions to people

A person’s addiction, or also known as co-dependency , can be as problematic as other addictions. It can lead to isolation, family, social and work deterioration, low self-esteem, and even depression and death. Feeling that one lives for and by the other, that the reason for his or her life is that person, that if he or she is not there, nothing makes sense. To be dependent on another person cancels out one’s own capabilities by feeling that one cannot live or achieve anything in life by oneself.

Self-esteem is governed by what others express about oneself. They think they deserve little or nothing , they give priority to the other person and may do what they don’t want to do in order to please or not to lose the other person.

The relationship with the dependent person has ups and downs, where the return to the bond is what counts . Co-dependents come back again and again, over the years, as if the unhealthy relationship is stronger than they are, where personal relationships are put aside and there are always opportunities to get back together

Living for Work, Work Addiction

Something as necessary, as rewarding and as organizing as work can become a problem. This will happen when a person dedicates most of the hours of the day, and sometimes of the night, to work issues, not allowing him/herself to do other activities or rest .

Several are the causal factors of a work addiction: excessive self-demanding, low self-esteem, feeling of inferiority, obsession, pathological ambition.
And the consequences will also be varied. As in any addiction, there will be consequences at the level of health, family and sociability : physical exhaustion, stress, anxiety; isolation, arguments, complaints, pressures.

What does the buyer buy? Compulsive consumerism

Today, shopping and consumerism are part of our western society, almost necessary for life. We consume food, clothing, appliances, entertainment, etc. But when shopping becomes an uncontrolled and compulsive behavior we are talking about something else.

When buying calm, relief or relief, we must ask ourselves what it is that calms us down from. What keeps us away? In short, what do we avoid when we buy compulsively?

Spending large sums of money, far from generating the gratification for acquiring what you have bought, can generate impotence, anguish and restlessness . It can lead to indebtedness and continued buying. The purchase does not make you happy, it is not a moment of pleasure, or it is, but then it is followed by a feeling of emptiness, of frustration because the material purchased does not completely fill up or remove the unpleasantness that is doing us harm. This, which is previous to the purchase, is what we have to reveal, because the purchase itself is not bad, the bad thing is that it is compulsive and as a resource to cover or calm some other need.

Taking up the title of this segment, the compulsive shopper buys relief, escape, momentary peace of mind. And, depending on the case, he will be able to buy a place in the family, a requited love, a feeling of success and prestige; he buys self-esteem, he buys feeling valuable and important. The metaphor here is, when in reality I don’t get something or I get frustrated with part of the reality I live or the place I occupy in society, in my head buying replaces that non-material thing I feel I don’t have . And it relieves, because by buying I “forget” what is generating so much discomfort.

We insist that there is nothing wrong with shopping and it is part of our way of life. It will be a problem if the need to buy something is systematically imposed. Life is organized around buying, all the time, and if you can’t go ahead with the purchase, it becomes a source of anguish and frustration.