Are your habits a sign of obsession, compulsion, or addiction? Let's check.

By: Tom Coghill
Submitted: 2008-03-27 21:46:03
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Everyone performs habitual actions, such as looking left and right when crossing the street, but when the behavior is irrational and repetitive and upsets our day to day existence and normal functional ability, it is compulsive behavior.

What is compulsive behavior?

Compulsive behavior gives respite from inappropriate anxieties. The compulsive behavior nullifies the anxiety. The urge to alleviate and avoid anxiety, fear or distress is the driving force behind the compulsion. This anxiety can spring from obsessive thoughts: like when perpetual fear of bacteria and germs results in ritual, compulsive washing. Compulsions can also arise unknowingly like when you’re biting your nails without being aware of it. Everyday compulsions are adding up, adjusting and looking at things over again to ensure peace of mind. If the compulsions get out of control as when needing to make sure the gate is properly closed ten times when leaving the house, the compulsion uses up time, interferes with normal daily routine, and may be a symptom of an anxiety disorder.

What is an obsession?

Obsessions can appear as misgivings and fears that give rise to anxiety. The obsessions are the force behind compulsions. Compulsive behaviors stop the anxieties temporarily until they increase and need to be alleviated yet again.For instance, people could say my obsession is going to the gym every day, but if I'm training to take part in a sports event, my working out stems from a healthy mental process.If my incentive for working out is for emotional reasons, as a distraction to emotional conflict, and I'm always focusing on exercising and get upset and distressed if I can't attend the gym, then I probably have an obsession. This obsession has to be neutralized by working out, which is now a compulsion. The compulsive act is the culmination of the obsessive fixation, allowing a brief respite from the anxiety or emotional stress.

What is an addiction?

Addiction in the traditional sense relates to drug dependence evidenced by difficulty in breaking the habit in spite of harmful results. Tolerance to the drug and withdrawal effects are both manifestations of addiction. Addiction is regarded as a compulsion typically driven by pleasure-seeking. Actually, neurologists have said that anything that turns on the reward systems of the brain can be called addictive. For this reason, addiction can also refer to such habits as overexercising and gambling. Though not addictions in the traditional sense, and sometimes classed as impulse-control disorders, withdrawal effects can arise when impulsive habit is restricted.

Compulsive habits and addiction show similarities since they each comprise shortcircuiting of the pleasure systems of the physical brain. The compulsions serve as a temporary means of relieving anxiety and tension. Each of us is susceptible to addiction that may be set off by psychological and environmental factors. Treatment providers approach affected individuals in various ways, but to be effective any approach must address the fundamental roots of the anxiety that is behind the compulsive behavior.

Article source: Expert Articles