Process Addictions are loosely defined as the non-chemical or substance based addictions (food, love, relationships, co-dependence, gambling, sex, etc). The person is addicted not to a physical substance they ingest but rather to a behavior or pattern of behaviors – aka a process.
Check out the links below for information on each of these individual addictions and recovery programs.
Questions people ask:
With a substance addiction, the person is addicted to a physical substance they ingest. With a process addiction the person is addicted to a behavior or pattern of behaviors – aka a process. The thing that is hard to understand sometimes is that the behavior or process addiction produces the exact same neurological response as a physical substance. So the process addict who is “high on work” is literally lighting up the same neuro receptors in their brain as the person on drugs.
Yes and No. Sex & Love addiction is most definitely a real thing. And it will make you feel like you are addicted to a particular person. In reality you are more likely addicted to the behaviors associated around sex & love.
The most common examples of process addictions are work, food, exercise, sex & love, gambling, shopping, playing video games and control. One of the easiest ways to asses whether a behavior is “addictive” is to use The American Society of Addiction Medicine‘s ABCDE method to help explain what addiction is, and what it is not. People with addiction have:
Abstinence issues. They cannot abstain on a regular basis.
Behavior control impairment. They cannot stop behaving in a specific way.
Craving to take in, or do, the subject of their addiction.
Diminished ability to see how the addiction impacts others.
Emotional responses that are dysfunctional.