Another View of Addictions

by Stephen B.Chadwick, MA Counselling Psychology.

www.cowichancounselling.ca

Dear Friends,

Ran across an interesting article on Huffington Post on addictions. Much of what is in the article can be debated and argued, but much of what is in the article also rings true, especially about concepts of propensity towards boredom and boredom thresholds in addicted persons.

Also if one examines the article in light of a posting I made a few months ago on Tove Lo, one can see how addictions, whether to food, drugs, sex, whatever are an emotional substitute for other needs in one's life. And again, they are habits and I have mentioned before, in the immortal paraphrasing of Mark Twain: habits whether good or bad need to be coaxed rather flung down the stairs.
The link to the article follows,

Tove Lo tells it like it is: Addictions, Emotions and Substance Abuse

by Stephen B.Chadwick, MA Counselling Psychology.

www.cowichancounselling.ca

Tove Lo

I recently watched Tove Lo's new video "Habits" also called "High all the Time" and I was struck by how startingly honest both the lyrics to the song and its accompanying video were. I'll leave the video for the end of the post, but for those who might currently be in recovery, you may or may not want to watch the video as it may be triggering and may (or may not) cause the viewer to want to use, especially if the viewer is in their early stages of recovery and their recovery is still rather fragile.

But suffice it to say that substances, whether alcohol or drugs or food or sex or gambling are really a means to self-soothe. Addictions and addictive behaviours are a way to self-medicate and assist an individual to manage their emotional states.