Are We Hooked On Addiction?
Páginas: 2 (320 palabras)
Publicado: 30 de octubre de 2012
Are we hooked on addiction?
The word “addict” for most people conjures up images if drug users or alcoholics, but today there is a new breed of addicts.
Dr. Mark Collins is the head of theaddictions unit at the Priory, an expensive clinic in Roehampton. Over the last 18 months we have noticed a big rise in the number of behavioural addictions so-called to distinguish them from substancedependencies.
Behavioural addictions include compulsive attachments to plastic surgery, the internet, mobile phones and even sun beds.
Internet addiction
Caroline Harrison, 37, a full timemother of three, admits to compulsively using the Internet. She was surfing to discover something about her youngest child’s skin problem when she found this amazing parenting website with livelymessage boards, soon she found she couldn’t go a day without logging on, she started spending all evening catting to her new online friends instead if spending time with her husband. “It never crossed mymind that it could be addictive, buy now I feel edgy and tense if I can’t access my computer” she says.
Tanning obsession
Even more worrying is the behavior of 14 years old Tracey Barlow whois now seeking treatment for her addiction to tanning. The teenager has been visiting tanning parlours three times a week, and at one stage was having treatments five days a week. Her skin is alreadyprematurely aged.
Shopaholic
For 26- year-old sales manager Emily Lane, it was her love of shopping that got dangerously out of hand. Her compulsive spending on designer clothes, shoes, andhandbags left her with $30,000 worth of debt and destroyed her relationship with her boyfriend.
Dr. Lefever believes that compulsive behavior often manifests itself in clusters. There is, forexample, the eating disorder cluster which also includes shopping and spending , work, cosmetic surgery, and exercise, the hedonistic cluster which includes alcohol, drugs, caffeine, sex, and gambling.
The word “addict” for most people conjures up images if drug users or alcoholics, but today there is a new breed of addicts.
Dr. Mark Collins is the head of theaddictions unit at the Priory, an expensive clinic in Roehampton. Over the last 18 months we have noticed a big rise in the number of behavioural addictions so-called to distinguish them from substancedependencies.
Behavioural addictions include compulsive attachments to plastic surgery, the internet, mobile phones and even sun beds.
Internet addiction
Caroline Harrison, 37, a full timemother of three, admits to compulsively using the Internet. She was surfing to discover something about her youngest child’s skin problem when she found this amazing parenting website with livelymessage boards, soon she found she couldn’t go a day without logging on, she started spending all evening catting to her new online friends instead if spending time with her husband. “It never crossed mymind that it could be addictive, buy now I feel edgy and tense if I can’t access my computer” she says.
Tanning obsession
Even more worrying is the behavior of 14 years old Tracey Barlow whois now seeking treatment for her addiction to tanning. The teenager has been visiting tanning parlours three times a week, and at one stage was having treatments five days a week. Her skin is alreadyprematurely aged.
Shopaholic
For 26- year-old sales manager Emily Lane, it was her love of shopping that got dangerously out of hand. Her compulsive spending on designer clothes, shoes, andhandbags left her with $30,000 worth of debt and destroyed her relationship with her boyfriend.
Dr. Lefever believes that compulsive behavior often manifests itself in clusters. There is, forexample, the eating disorder cluster which also includes shopping and spending , work, cosmetic surgery, and exercise, the hedonistic cluster which includes alcohol, drugs, caffeine, sex, and gambling.
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