Very often my clients and complete strangers (when they hear about my work) ask me whether they "are addicted".
My simple answer is: it is an addiction if you have either lost your health, a relationship, a job, or the roof over your head because of it.
An addiction is actually any behaviour that we do more of than we want, and that we use to mask unpleasant emotions (anger, boredom, sadness...). If you have ever thought you ought to spend less time on Facebook, and not put that into practice, then you have an addiction to Facebook. Personally, I am addicted to reading books.
What my rather flippant answer does, is to point out that there has to be a harmful element to "qualify" a habit as an addiction.
Because let's face it: most of us are addicted to coffee for example. We could not face starting a day without it, even though we hate spending literally thousands of dollars every year on it. Yet no-one seeks professional help for that.
So I suggest we sort our addictions into harmful and harmless ones. And very often my work involves helping my clients to find harmless addictions to replace more harmful ones. Running for example - the endorphins that it releases is addictive - yet you're unlikely to lose your relationships, jobs or house for it. Surfing is another one.
Another way of answering the question "am I addicted?" is to ask yourself what is the price you pay for continuing your behaviour - and whether you can afford to pay it long-term.
And if you can't, then it's time to seek help, before you lose one or all of the essentials: your relationships, your health, your job, your home.
My simple answer is: it is an addiction if you have either lost your health, a relationship, a job, or the roof over your head because of it.
An addiction is actually any behaviour that we do more of than we want, and that we use to mask unpleasant emotions (anger, boredom, sadness...). If you have ever thought you ought to spend less time on Facebook, and not put that into practice, then you have an addiction to Facebook. Personally, I am addicted to reading books.
What my rather flippant answer does, is to point out that there has to be a harmful element to "qualify" a habit as an addiction.
Because let's face it: most of us are addicted to coffee for example. We could not face starting a day without it, even though we hate spending literally thousands of dollars every year on it. Yet no-one seeks professional help for that.
So I suggest we sort our addictions into harmful and harmless ones. And very often my work involves helping my clients to find harmless addictions to replace more harmful ones. Running for example - the endorphins that it releases is addictive - yet you're unlikely to lose your relationships, jobs or house for it. Surfing is another one.
Another way of answering the question "am I addicted?" is to ask yourself what is the price you pay for continuing your behaviour - and whether you can afford to pay it long-term.
And if you can't, then it's time to seek help, before you lose one or all of the essentials: your relationships, your health, your job, your home.