Addiction

Ever find yourself gaming til 3am? Spend more money on worthless items than your bills? Have you turned to alcohol to stop yourself thinking about reality? These are all forms of: Addiction

What is Addiction?

An Addiction is an unhealthy obsession where find yourself losing self-control of your regular life routines because you are focused on something you think is rewarding either physically, mentally or financially but is seriously harmful to your health and wellbeing.

What causes Addiction?

The biggest cause of Addiction in autistic people is finding specific things that we become obsessed with through our natural ability to Hyper-Focus. This is not necessarily a bad thing as many autistic have found great success by using this trait but when we find an Obsessive Interest that causes us to lose complete control of our usual life routines, this interest has become an addiction.

How do I manage Addiction?

How well you can manage Addiction first depends what kind of Addiction you have. There at least 3 types of Addictions (maybe more): Electronic Addictions, Money Addictions and Substance Abuse Addictions with each one being more severe than the last. The latter will certainly require professional help to manage but for now, you can start managing Addiction by using the different strategies below.

What are “Electronic Addictions”?

Electronic Addictions are addictions that are accessed through electronic devices such as Video Games, the Internet and Social Media.

How do I manage “Electronic Addictions”?

In short, here are 3 different strategies for you to try: Limit Access Electronically, Limit Access Physically OR Find something else to do. These strategies are all explained in further detail under the tabs above.

What are “Money Addictions”?

Money Addictions are addictions that need money to make them happen. The money is not the addiction itself, it is actually used to fuel the addiction. Two of the most notable Money Addictions are Shopping and Gambling.

How do I manage “Money Addictions”?

In short, here are 3 different strategies for you to try: Be Decisive, Control your Money OR Limit your Access. These strategies are all explained in further detail under the tabs above.

What are “Substance Abuse Addictions”?

Substance Abuse Addictions are addictions such as smoking, alcohol and drugs. These addictions are not only bad for you mentally and financially (like electronic and money addictions), they are bad for you physically and if you don’t do something about these addictions, they can make you severely ill and can even result in an early death. Yes, you can die from Substance Abuse Addictions.

What is your experience with “Substance Abuse Addictions”?

I have never abused substances or had any Substance Abuse Addictions. My experience with substance abuse is from those around me, in my family, who have abused substances in their lives so the advice offered here is based off what I learned worked and didn’t work for them.

How do I manage “Substance Abuse Addictions”?

Substance Abuse Addictions are the hardest addictions to manage as they not only affect you mentally but also physically. We will look at some of the things you can do to help you with your addiction, these are Get Help, Will Yourself and Take Control. Remember though, these are not easy addictions to beat, it will be a long journey.

GENERAL

All photos on ADDICTION page are taken from Pixabay OR Unsplash except for the ones stated below:

ELECTRONIC ADDICTIONS

The pictures for 'Hide the Influence', 'Make the Screen Look Boring' and 'Block your Access to it' in the 'Limit Access Electronically' section belong to me.

MONEY ADDICTIONS

The pictures for 'Freeze your cards temporarily' in the 'Control your Money' section and 'Block the addicting websites' in the 'Limit your Access' section belong to me.