Counselling Articles

Addiction: How to Spot it and What to do About it.

At certain times the need to belong can lead us to make choices that have dangerous consequences. This is especially true of the environment in which we work and the choices that we make during work and after. The ever-present list of demands and pressures we face in the work place may be so great that we want run away and escape at the end of the day.

For many, staying ahead of the game means hard work as well hard play.  In the professional world, escape is often found at the bottom of a whiskey bottle, or through the £100 note used to snort a line of Columbia’s finest. But when does letting loose and escaping really become a problem?

Substances, such as alcohol and drugs can help lower inhibitions and induce intensely pleasurable feelings. This is why so many people turn to them at the end of a hard day or when things get tough and as such is one of the reasons why they are so addictive. The quicker the substance reaches the brain, and the more pleasurable a substance is, the more likely you are to become addicted, hence  drugs which are administered by snorting, smoking or injection are considered more addictive than drugs taken orally.

Here are six common “red flag” signs for addiction: (more…)

Do I Have a Gambling Problem?

The National Health Society estimates that there are as many as 250,000 individuals in the UK with a gambling addiction. When suffering from compulsive gambling it can feel impossible to control the impulse to gamble, and we continue despite the  problems it causes us and our loved ones. Like other forms of addiction, gambling can become all that we think about, or want to do, no matter what the consequences.

If you find yourself spending increasing amounts of time or money on betting, then you may have a gambling problem. If it is causing you to be secretive, if you are gambling when you do not have the money, if your friends and family are worried, or you are having problems controlling your impulses to bet, then it’s likely that your gambling has become an addiction. But you are not alone! (more…)

Historically, addiction has been defined in a medical sense, with attention given to substances such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs. However, psychologists, the media and the public now take addiction to include other aspects, including, but not limited to; gambling, pornography, sex, self harm, food and even work and exercise.

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