good people can get addictions but if its a long term addiction you are no longer talking to the person you once knew! there is only a shell of that person!
if anddiction goes on for so long that person will never return and they are living just to feed their habbit.

I would bite the bullet and go, the more you do it the easier it will be.
Have you ever heard of neuro-linguistic programming?
That's helpful to do yourself inbetween therapy and meds, every little helps :)

That's a good example of something which has been disproven countless times, yes.

so the hundreds of thousands of life long addicts that die from their addictions come back!

No, the dead don't rise silly. The hundreds of thousands who beat their life long addictions and disprove your overtly simplistic analysis do, though.

Is addiction anything more than a handy label to use when someone is continually making bad choices?

In a way it kinda makes the bad choices, like having another cigarette that everyone knows damages their lungs, seem like it's not as much their fault. Like just being a nicotine addict kinda absolves you of directly being responsible for the self harming.

And what of people who are able to give up such things, are they more strong minded than those who don't? Were they perhaps less addicted?

Would any sane person make choices like continually taking something like heroin, even though it results in them losing everything and being left alone and homeless?

Is it all just some type of myth?

Like endorphins are released when we do certain behaviour, some people love the feeling so much they repeat that certain behaviour like a person with ocd.

Nah, addiction is way more than just making bad choices..

I'd say that having a cream cake with my lunch today was a bad choice.. The cigarette I had after if (albeit an electronic one) was not a choice at all.. In my head, it was a nessesity.

I don't know, I say addiction exists as I was... but now I'm not.
i can't explain how or why, but I know that if I could bottle how I did it I'd be a multi- millionaire! :laugh:

That's how I look at coffee, I know I'm addicted to it, but I could wean myself off it, but I chose not to, I enjoy it, and as such if I don't have a mug of coffee before I go to work, I get a fierce headache in the mornings. So it is kinda needed for me to function.

And some people do become addicted to food, and I remember reading before that sugar is one of the most difficult things to try and give up.

Maybe it's that everyone could give up if they put their minds to it, but the majority chose not to, like it's a security blanket, and they defined themselves as an addict of such-and-such so to give that up, they would have to in a way rebuild their self identity.

Did you just quit one day?

...hmm, yeah I've heard of that 'self help' internet thing before and for you it seems silly because that would be telling you to use the internet when that's what you're trying not to do, whereas if you were to go to a therapist then that would be you going our and a goal in itself...but from your last sentence, you would find that too difficult atm anyway..?...maybe a smaller goal first, something less scary..?...

..CBT does work, I promise you..well obviously different therapies work for different people but CBT is particularly good for addictions/self esteem/confidence building as I said before and it is all about just dealing with what's in front of you...like don't think about actually going to a therapy group and people being there or you having to talk or anything..but literally a step by step thing...getting dressed..walking out the door...walking along the road etc..and realising/seeing that the things your mind feared aren't actually there because we create our own biggest 'fears' ourselves and build them up in our heads to be so much more huge than reality...do you know what I mean..?....maybe you wouldn't get to that therapy group the first time or even the second etc..but that would be your goal..?....

I have sympathy for all but sex addicts. I always feel like people that cheat use that as an excuse.

I just stopped one day after 15yrs of drinking every day.
There was a lot of behind the scenes things going on, I was affected physically, psychologically and emotionally.
The weeks leading up were spent pleading with myself literally...
I saw my addiction/compusion as a part of my subconscious I needed to reason with, for the benefit of all of me.
The day I stopped drinking I also stopped biting my nails... I find that the most odd funnily :joker:

its great you can talk openly about it!, its another true sign that you got the control back that you had lost.

It would take too long for me to properly educate the people here about addiction.

All i'll say is that it is a medical disorder, just like anorexia.

I think anorexia is an entirely different compulsion.
And yep sheriff it's important for me anyway to be honest, after years of hiding it very well as what is now called a 'functioning' alcoholic I decided to get real and come clean.

kizzy, opinionated on everything, expert on nothing.

something about jack of all trades, it's like a saying or something.

BLAAAAHHH!

I was just about to post that I think I have a mild internet addiction and then I saw Verbal's post.

So much gets put off and not done because of browsing. Even when you tell yourself you have 10 minutes or an hour to do what you need, have a quick look at the news, check the forum or whatever. Then before you know it it's 5 hours later and you've only noticed because you're getting hunger pangs. We are slaves to our screens.

My uni deadlines and such help keep me in check in terms of work, if I have those looming the anxiety/dread forces me to get stuff done.

i'll find any reason to have some calpol

but i wouldn't say i was addicted

I think I am addicted to the thrill of doing things very last minute. There is no other explanation.

So... Just like the rest of the forum then?
If you don't like what I say don't read my posts alex.

i'm just kidding kizzy. you are a very valuable member of the forum. It wouldn't be the same without you. But on addiction, i have a different experience.

that's fair right?

I suppose, I meant anorexia was different as it meant not doing something as opposed to doing something is all.

which is ironic, because most addictions are all about trying to NOT do something. i get what you mean. but it is the same feeling.

It's really about extremes. all or nothing. in addicts mind it's all or nothing., it's extremes. it's hard to explain.