Addictive Behaviours - characteristics

Question 1

intro to question (case study)

Answer 1

• the term addiction is often thrown around loosely in todays society, whether that be within the media, or within society as whole misusing or having a lack of understanding of the term.
• Mark Griffitsh (2005) suggests there six criteria that need to be met for a behaviour to be considered an addiction.
• These criteria were written for behavioural addictions but can also be applied to drugs and other substances as well.

Question 2

salience

Answer 2

A characteristic of an addictive behaviour is Salience, this is where the activity is at the forefront of the individual’s life, and preoccupies their thoughts, feelings and behaviour, even when they are not engaging with the activity, they are still preoccupied with it.

Question 3

mood modification

Answer 3

When the individual engages with the behaviour, they experience a modification in their mood, this is also what characterises an addiction, an element of it causing a kind of ‘buzz’ or ‘high’, for example, a gambler may experience this with the thrill of winning a large sum of money after placing a bet.

Question 4

tolerance

Answer 4

Another aspect of addiction, is that as time goes on, a tolerance builds up; in terms of substance addiction, that means that the individual requires more of the substance to feel the same initial effects of the ‘high’ that they felt when they first started using. In an addictive behaviour, for example gambling, that would mean a gambler would have to place larger sums of money or riskier bets to feel the desired ‘buzz’.

Question 5

withdrawal symptoms

Answer 5

People that are experiencing an addiction will also have withdrawal symptoms when the activity they are addicted to cannot be consumed, or for gamblers and video game addicts, they can’t partake in the desired activity; withdrawal symptoms are typically more prevalent in people that have substance abuse issues, their bodies can actually have a physical dependence, and when the use of the substance has been stopped they can experience cravings, nausea, cramps, depression, etc.

Question 6

Conflict

Answer 6

Addicts also have conflict, whether that be in relationships or within themselves; they might compromise their relationships with family and friends in order to engage with the activity they’re addicted to. Furthermore, they may also experience conflict within themselves, they may try to stop engaging in the behaviour but simply can’t.

Question 7

relapse

Answer 7

Addicts also have a tendency to relapse to the addictive behaviour even after years of not doing so.