Certain types of addictions are readily noticeable; others are not so easily identified. Addiction can affect anyone at any time or place. It can concern a specific substance, or be as vague as an obsessive disorder.
When most people think of addiction they think in terms of substance abuse, but it relates to any number of circumstances that fill a desire that the addict can not deal with properly.
Some of the more well known subjects of addiction include, substance abuse, alcoholism, eating and gambling disorders, compulsive working, shopping, cleaning, exercising and other objects of obsession. Despite the many differences, all of these subjects contain elements of the same behavior. Whether it is to escape, to feel good, to forget or to maintain, the addict is not in control and lacks the components to make healthy decisions.
One of the major obstacles of addiction is the social acceptance or even encouragement of the negative behavior. Addiction is not a case of black and white; good or bad.
Some addictions are illegal, while others can evolve from participating in condoned activities. Alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are examples of substances that are not only legal but available on almost every street corner. Sometimes it seems that our entire economy revolves around the marketability of these substances.
These perspective industries are a huge part of our society and spend a lot of money in advertising. Between commercials, billboards, movies, and magazines, they portray the idea that it is not only a good thing to partake in, but will some how change the individual for the better. It does not help that these substances are highly addictive and dangerous as well. The negative influence of society on helping to create and maintain drug addictions, can also include the aspects of gambling and eating disorders.
We live in a country based on the idea of the availability of opportunity. It is the country where anyone can quickly become rich with hardly any application or involvement. Gambling addictions affect a variety of individuals and can be equally as harmful as substance abuse. Eating disorders are also very harmful and aggravated by society. Anorexia and bolemia are two types of abuse that are brought on by the individual’s idea of being overweight.
This perception is not helped by the fashion industries absurd portrayal of the “desired woman”, who is six feet tall and weighs no more than a hundred and twenty pounds. Young women all over the world are starving themselves to death in imitation of something that is not only unrealistic but unhealthy and abnormal.
Eating disorders also include behaviors in the opposite extreme, where the individual is addicted to food and chronically over eats. The situation is quite ironic. While we typecast our ideal versions of the “perfect” people, we are also the country of the overly obese. We are the inventors of the fast food chain.
Whatever the degree or type of the addiction, no matter what the substance or behavior is, it is not a healthy way to live and one should get some addiction treatment from a drug rehab as soon as possible.