Addictions Counselling in London | Addictions Treatment & Therapy

Causes of Addiction

Causes for addiction can vary but the primary factors appear to be Environment and Genetics. Specific risk factors affect an addiction being developed and they include: family history of addiction, mental health disorder, peer pressure, age of first use, and taking a highly addictive drug.

Types of Addiction

Our addictions counselling in London helps you to understand the types of Addiction include:

• Gambling Addiction can be defined as the urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life. Gambling addiction stimulates the brain’s reward system in a similar way that drugs and alcohol can, leading to addiction. Causes of gambling addiction are unclear, but may result from biological, genetic, and environment factors. Risk factors include: Mental health disorders, age, sex, family or friend influence, specific medications and personality characteristics.
• Sex Addiction is also called Hyper-sexuality. Sex addiction is created by the powerful chemical substances that are released during sex. Sex addiction is the excessive preoccupation with sexual fantasies, urges or behaviours that is difficult to control, causes you distress, or negatively affects your health, job, relationships or other parts of your life. Causes associated with sexual addiction are unclear, however, addiction can be linked to an imbalance of natural brain chemicals, changes in brain pathways, and conditions that affect the brain. Symptoms of sexual addition include recurring and intense sexual urges and behaviours that are uncontrollable, engaging in sexual behaviour that has serious consequences such as spreading sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and difficulty establishing and maintaining stable and healthy relationships.
• Shopping addiction, also known as compulsive buying disorder, or compulsive shopping, can be described as the compulsion to spend money, regardless of need or financial means.
• Alcohol Addiction is considered the most commonly used addictive substance in the United States with an estimated 17.6 million people suffering from alcohol abuse/dependence. Signs and Symptoms of Alcohol Addiction include loss of control in regard to amount consumed by an individual. Withdrawal symptoms occur once consumption is stopped: the individual may become shaky, sweaty, sick, or anxious. Frequency of consumption may be increased to daily and consumption is a focal point of their life - the individual may spend copious amounts of time drinking and great effort to conceal behaviours from friends and family.
• Internet addiction is considered to be an impulse disorder and has a similar impact on the brain as a gambling addiction. Some internet users develop an emotional attachment to their virtual life: friends and activities they have created online. Individuals may substitute their internet use for in-person human connection. Signs and symptoms of internet addiction include preoccupation with the internet to a degree that disrupts activities of daily living and intrude on professional and personal success. Individuals may lie about usage in an attempt to conceal the extent and length of usage and may demonstrate the inability to control or minimize usage.
• Smoking Addiction is considered to be a nicotine addiction and this is the primary reason that individuals persist in use of tobacco. The primary criteria for smoking addiction are rooted in the behaviors of highly controlled or impulsive use that are accompanied by psychoactive effects. Additionally, key criteria for smoking addiction are the behaviors around the addiction: repeated and compulsive self-administration, absence of control, motivation to seek and use the product, and manifestation of dependence. According to the Centers for Disease and Control in the United States, Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, with more than 41,000 of these deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke. In addition, smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion a year, including nearly $170 billion in direct medical care for adults and $156 billion in lost productivity. In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service reported that in 2015, there were estimated to be around 79 thousand deaths attributable to smoking, down from 88 thousand in 2005, but up from 78 thousand in 2014.In 2015, an estimated 15.1% (36.5 million) U.S. adults were current* cigarette smokers. Of these, 75.7% (27.6 million) smoked every day, and 24.3% (8.9 million) smoked some days. Signs and symptoms of a nicotine dependence include an inability to stop, experiencing withdrawal symptoms during attempts to stop, continuing to the engage in the behavior despite risks to yourself, and discontinuing social or recreational activities at the expense of smoking.