Addictions interrelated

Most of the time its related, we try to fill the same void with it, i was a game addict too. (But it wont work and will only worsen it).

 

Hey John,

Neurologicaly, I know (it is my job actually) that every drugs and even some behaviors (like gaming, gamble...) increase the level of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens of the reward center, wich hook pretty fast to a damn addiction !!!!!
And porn works unfortunatly that way...

And Yep u do has a point, it is usually used to fill the same voids.

Cheers pal

 

It must be on some level if you think about it, that's why so many in recovery talk about the whack a mole phenomenon. You can start by considering the directly related ones whether through a behavioral or neurological lens, but I think the one thing that will make a huge comprehensive difference is if someone took the time to map out all the interdependencies. Traditional 4th step work is framed morally, I have been advocating a functional inventory - think flow chart.

 

Of course it is.

You're being rewarded with intense positive emotions for doing something very easy, comfortable, and instantly gratifying. You're conditioning yourself to seek more of those activities that allow you to escape anything outside your comfort zone.

It's all cheap rewards. Why exercise, have great nutrition, and wait weeks / months for results / delayed gratification rewards when I can eat a whole lot of junk food and be rewarded right now?

The bigger the obstacles the bigger the rewards. If people want to create a life filled with cheap rewards, then get addicted to porn and other forms of escapism. If they want better life experiences, they will need to work for it... which means not feeling good all the time / going outside your comfort zone / doing something that might not work / being uncomfortable / delaying gratification while doing something challenging.

 

Patrick Carnes (the godfather of sex addiction research) estimates that 80% of sex addicts have a secondary addiction (drugs, alcohol, video games, gambling, etc). From the folks I talk to in SAA meetings, I think that estimate is probably pretty accurate.

 

In this video his daughter backs that up. She talks of 'comorbidities' like substance abuse and alcoholism but cites a study showing that 38% of sex addicts do not have a comorbid disorder.

N.B. She's talking about sex addicts, and she notes that porn addicts, especially young ones who grew up with high speed internet, seem to exhibit different pahtologies, for example they are less likely to have abusive parents or come from broken homes. I got the impression that there is less clinical data on young porn addicts, though that's changing.

 

So right,i was addicted to videogame too, but i would say that videogame was my main addiction and porn my second because of the limits of thr body with fapping...

 

same here, I never used substances because I never felt the need and I knew they were bad for me.

I was addicted to video games (not any more) and porn (not any more- working on that). I don't have an abusive childhood or anything I just got into this stuff because society said it was fun.