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This article goes into depth about the correlation of alcohol and gambling addictions. Alcohol is commonly advertised to gamblers to increase their odds of spending money. Which isn't ethically right.

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This article goes into more detail about the outcomes of gambling addiction. Talks about anxiety and depression.

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This scholarly article contains more information about substance abuse and gambling. More evidence that society sets gambling up for losing money.

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Article goes into depth about many categories such as social, consequential, and mental effects. Also gives treatment advice.

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What Is A Sports Betting Addiction?

Sports betting addiction is a behavioral disorder characterized by a persistent and uncontrollable desire to bet on sports despite adverse outcomes. stimulates the brain's reward system in a similar way that substances can. Excessively betting on sports is a compulsive pattern of behavior that can lead to mental health , financial, social, and other personal problems.

The world of sports betting is now more accessible than ever before with the emergence of user-friendly betting apps. These sleek, beginner-friendly apps and other betting websites may be responsible for the number of Americans betting on sports doubling in 2021, with 12% of Americans now partaking in sports betting. These apps include DraftKings Sportsbook, BetMGM Sportsbook, and Caesars Sportsbook.

Some examples of sports betting include bets on football games, basketball games, boxing matches, and horse racing events. While many can bet on sports casually without repercussions, some individuals obsess over and excessively gamble on sports, which may be a sign of a sports betting addiction.

Individuals addicted to sports betting may begin to neglect their responsibilities at home and work. They may also experience withdrawal symptoms like restlessness or irritability when stopping or decreasing their betting behavior. The ease of accessing sports betting via the and smartphones can increase an individual's likelihood of developing an addiction.

Signs And Symptoms Of Sports Betting Addiction

When someone is addicted to sports betting, also referred to as gambling addiction or compulsive gambling, they may present a wide range of symptoms that can be difficult to pinpoint due to the nature of behavioral addictions. Below are some signs that a person may display when addicted to gambling.

Compulsive Behaviors: Compulsive behaviors include excessive sports gambling despite the negative consequences that it can cause. When someone is addicted to sports betting, they will continue to place bets even though it has caused financial or relationship problems. The person will have an uncontrollable urge to gamble, and they may feel a rush of euphoria when they place a bet; however, this feeling does not last.

Loss Of Control: The person addicted to gambling will experience loss of control and display difficulty stopping or reducing their gambling behavior. They will often spend excessive amounts of money without any rationale and disregard other responsibilities in their life. While they may be aware that their actions are harmful to themselves and others, those with a sports betting addiction will have difficulty changing their behaviors without help.

Neglecting Responsibilities: An individual experiencing a loss of control may also begin to neglect their responsibilities at work, home, or school. They may miss important events or deadlines because they've prioritized their sports gambling over other obligations in their life.

Tolerance And Withdrawal: A person addicted to sports betting can eventually gain a tolerance for it, meaning they need to win more money or place more bets to achieve the same euphoria or satisfaction. They may also experience withdrawal symptoms like or depression if they try to stop or reduce their betting behaviors.

Consequences Of Gambling

The consequences of sports betting can affect many facets of a person's life. It is usually hard for people to believe they have a problem until they have suffered significant consequences, but an individual does not have to reach a "rock bottom" to receive treatment for gambling or a sports betting addiction. Some consequences of gambling include:

Financial Issues

Individuals addicted to sports betting may face financial struggles. This addiction can cause a person to spend all of their savings on gambling and sometimes even resort to illegal pursuits to obtain money for gambling. Gambling addiction may also cause an individual to go into debt, and they may feel the need to gamble even more to get back into good financial standings.

Relationship Issues

Sports betting addiction can place strain on personal relationships and can lead to isolation and loneliness. Individuals may lie to loved ones about their gambling activities which can cause feelings of distrust and betrayal. In some cases, loved ones may lend money to an individual, which can unintentionally enable their addiction.

Legal Problems

Those with a sports betting addiction may engage in illegal activities such as embezzlement or fraud to finance their gambling. They may also get into trouble with the law for unpaid debts or other financial problems related to their addiction. Moreover, sports betting is only legal for those over 21 and in certain states. While some states place the legal age at 18 for sports betting and gambling, underage gambling can result in heavy fines or even jail time.

Physical And Mental Health Issues

Sports betting addiction can harm one's physical and psychological health. Individuals may experience stress-related illnesses such as high blood pressure, depression, and anxiety. Additionally, the act of sports betting and gambling can cause serious mood fluctuations depending on the outcome (i.e., a win or a loss).

How Gambling Affects Mental Health

As previously mentioned, sports betting addiction can greatly impact a person's mental health. Someone with a sports betting addiction may experience guilt, shame, difficulty sleeping, low self-esteem, fear, worry, difficulty concentrating, and poor decision-making.

Since sports betting activates the brain's reward system much like substances, a sports betting addiction can increase a person's risk of abusing drugs and alcohol. Addiction to sports betting can lead to severe emotional and psychological suffering, so it is paramount for individuals who experience these issues to seek help from a mental health professional.

Treatment Options For Sports Betting Addiction

There are various treatment possibilities available to help someone recover from a sports betting addiction. Treatment options may include the following:

Mental Health Professionals

There are licensed mental health professionals available who specialize in helping those with behavioral addictions. Mental health professionals can help individuals understand the underlying conditions or events that may have led to their sports betting addiction. Individuals can also call their insurance company to refer them to a mental health counselor in their area, or they can research therapy options online.

Online Therapy

Another feasible route for treating gambling or sports betting addiction is online therapy . Studies have found online therapy, specifically online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), to be as effective as in-person therapy for various mental health and co-occurring conditions . Online therapy is confidential, convenient, and cost-effective, and it provides individuals with the confidence and skills to make positive life changes.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A common form of psychotherapy used to treat behavioral addictions is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is a form of therapy that focuses on changing a person's behavior by modifying negative thought patterns. CBT can provide a person with a sports betting addiction with the skills to make positive lifestyle and environment changes. Counselors will typically use this form of therapy during individual counseling.

Support Groups

Support groups can help individuals struggling with a sports betting addiction or gambling addiction build a support network and meet others who have faced similar struggles. Gamblers Anonymous is a 12-step group that allows members to share their experiences with gambling in a safe and supportive environment. By attending support group meetings, individuals can improve their coping skills while making meaningful connections with others.

Inpatient Treatment

If someone feels incapable of refraining from sports betting and it has affected multiple areas of their life, they may benefit from time in an inpatient treatment program . Inpatient treatment programs offer 24-hour monitored care 7 days per week, access to medical and clinical staff, group and individual counseling sessions, and other alternative forms of therapy. Moreover, inpatient treatment provides individuals struggling with a gambling or sports betting addiction with the environment and support needed to address co-occurring conditions and improve coping skills.

Medications

Emerging research shows the promise of certain medications reducing the intensity of urges and cravings for gambling. These medications include Naltrexone , Lithium (a mood stabilizer), and other antidepressant and antipsychotic medications. Antidepressants and other medicines used to treat gambling addiction often target co-occurring mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder , and .

Self-Help Techniques

While therapy and treatment are always available options to pursue, there are also steps individuals can take on their own to help combat sports betting. The first thing you can do if you are trying to recover from a sports betting addiction is to close your accounts and delete sports betting apps.

You can even ask sports betting organizations to close your accounts permanently. Additionally, some websites will permanently block sports betting sites from your phone or computer, like BetBlocker, Gamblock, and Gambam. You can even ask a trusted family member to help you manage money so that you can use your finances responsibly.

Individuals can also fill out a self-exclusion form that will ban them from gambling facilities within a particular state, including casinos, horse racing, video lottery gaming, and fantasy sports activities. Self-exclusion forms, which a state's gambling commission oversees, prohibit individuals from collecting winnings, recovering losses, and using any facility's services. The exclusionary period can range from a year to a lifetime and cannot be altered or canceled for any reason during that time.

Find Treatment For Gambling Today

Recovering from any addiction is challenging and requires effort and the desire to want to change, but there are so many resources and treatment options to help. Keep in mind that managing the urges to gamble will get easier over time, and you may not need the help or restrictions you initially required in early recovery. Learn more information on online therapy options for sports betting addiction today.

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Excessively betting on sports can negatively affect multiple areas of one's life, including one's mental health, finances, and relationships.

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Article goes into detail about Sports betting risks. Goes into depth about how easy they make it to access sports books through phones.

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Sports Betting Increases Addiction Risks

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It's hard not to notice all the advertisements and news stories about the new sports betting law that took effect in Ohio at the beginning of 2023. The sports betting companies seem to be surrounding their ad campaigns around 'risk free' betting.

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This article contains a vast amount of data about addiction. It also goes into depth about the details of the brain.

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Step 1 - Read the Article

Takeaways

Alcohol is dually reinforcing because it can both activate the brain's reward processing system that mediates pleasure and reduce the activity of the brain's systems that mediate negative emotional states such as stress, anxiety, and emotional pain.

Repeated, excessive use of alcohol can lead to the development of addiction, which is associated with reduced reward function and increased activation of brain stress systems. The process of becoming addicted is thus accompanied by a shift in drinking motivation from positive reinforcement to negative reinforcement, during which drinking is motivated by attempts to reduce the emotional discomfort of acute and protracted withdrawal.

Addiction and its associated brain changes can be understood as a three-stage cycle involving binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation.

The adaptability, or plasticity, of the brain is central to the development of addiction, to the effectiveness of evidence-based treatments, and to the neurological and psychological improvements in recovery.

The plasticity of the human brain contributes to both the development of and recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD). Within the brain, individual genetic and environmental factors interact at molecular, neuronal, and circuit levels to influence a person's vulnerability to AUD. 1,2 Thus, each person's path to AUD is shaped by a unique set of variables, and as a result, different people will have different levels of severity and types of dysfunction that may require different treatment approaches. ³

Alcohol produces chemical imbalances in specific neurocircuits and can be neurotoxic. Chronic heavy drinking can, for example, damage brain regions involved in memory, decision-making, impulse control, attention, sleep regulation, and other cognitive functions. 4,5 Once AUD develops and progresses, these and other brain changes can make it very difficult to stop drinking without assistance. ¹

Here, we outline a framework for understanding alcohol-induced changes in the brain, which can help you appreciate the challenges faced by many patients with AUD when they try to cut back or quit drinking. We then describe evidence-based treatments you can recommend to patients to help the brain, and the patient as a whole, to recover.

A note on drinking level terms in this Core article: Binge drinking brings a person's blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 percent or more, which typically happens if a woman has 4 or more drinks, or a man has 5 or more drinks, within about 2 hours. Heavy drinking includes binge drinking and has been defined for women as 4 or more drinks on any day or 8 or more per week, and for men as 5 or more drinks on any day or 15 or more per week.

How does the brain change as AUD develops?

The brain mediates our motivation to repeat behaviors that lead to pleasurable, rewarding states or reduce uncomfortable, distressing physical or emotional states. In this context, drinking alcohol can be motivated by its ability to provide both relief from aversive states and reward. These dual, powerful reinforcing effects help explain why some people drink and why some people use alcohol to excess. With repeated heavy drinking, however, tolerance develops and the ability of alcohol to produce pleasure and relieve discomfort decreases.

During acute and protracted withdrawal, a profound negative emotional state evolves, termed hyperkatifeia (hyper-kuh-TEE-fee-uh). Hyperkatifeia is defined as a hypersensitive negative emotional state consisting of symptoms such as dysphoria, malaise, irritability, pain, and sleep disturbances. ⁶ Heavy drinking may also produce deficits in executive function that contribute to symptoms such as impulsivity, compulsivity, impaired cognitive function, and impaired decision making. These brain changes related to excessive alcohol use underlie many AUD symptoms.

Below is a brief overview of the current knowledge of the brain structures and circuitry involved in the cycle of alcohol addiction, ¹ which aligns symptomatically with moderate to severe AUD. ⁷ (The current AUD diagnostic criteria are listed in the Core articles on AUD and assessment.)

Alcohol produces pleasure. Alcohol produces pleasurable or rewarding effects by increasing activity in brain systems related to reward processing. In the basal ganglia, activation of opioid receptors in the nucleus accumbens may be responsible for some of the pleasure associated with alcohol intoxication (see Figure 1). In addition, alcohol causes the ventral tegmental area to send dopamine signals to the nucleus accumbens. Dopamine is critical for learning to associate alcohol and its related "cues"-people, places, or things-with the rewarding effects of alcohol. This learning process can lead to "incentive salience," a motivation for reward that is driven by both a person's current physiological state and previously learned associations between cues and the reward. Some people are initially drawn to alcohol more for its rewarding effects, while others seek it largely to alleviate physical or emotional discomfort, as detailed next.

Habit formation makes it harder to stop drinking. When drinking behavior patterns are repeated, the brain shifts control over the sequence of actions involved in drinking from conscious control via the prefrontal cortex to habit formation using the basal ganglia. This transition from incentive salience toward habitual responding, mediated by changes in brain circuitry, can make it more likely that someone will continue their drinking pattern and harder for them to stop.

Alcohol initially reduces, then promotes negative emotional states and pain. Alcohol may temporarily reduce negative emotional states in part by dampening activity in the extended amygdala. This brain structure mediates the fight or flight stress response and helps us learn to associate certain cues with danger or threat. Neurons interacting within the extended amygdala release stress-related neurotransmitters such as corticotropin releasing factor and dynorphin, which in turn influence other brain areas involved in stress responses, including the hypothalamus and brain stem structures.

Although alcohol initially suppresses activity in the extended amygdala and reduces stress responses, excessive alcohol use can lead to tolerance and the need to drink more to find relief. After drinking stops, during withdrawal, the amygdala circuits become hyperactive, leading to hyperkatifeia, or heightened negative emotional states, such as irritability, anxiety, dysphoria, and emotional pain. This discomfort, often described as misery, can motivate some people to drink alcohol again and repeat the cycle of drinking and withdrawal. Research suggests that among people with negative emotional states, self-medication with alcohol to help cope with mood symptoms increases the risk for developing AUD. ⁸

Like its effects on emotional pain, alcohol can temporarily reduce physical pain. Research suggests that reduction of pain only occurs at or above binge levels of drinking (reaching a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or above, typically after 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men within about 2 hours). 9,10 As blood alcohol concentrations decrease, however, the sensation of pain returns even more intensely. This again leads to a cycle of misregulation, ¹¹ that is, using a "solution" that ultimately makes the problem worse. The discomfort or misery felt during withdrawal, including negative emotional states, is the leading precipitant of relapses in patients recovering from AUD. 12,13

The brain becomes motivated to continue drinking. As noted earlier, negative emotional states or hyperkatifeia, can persist into protracted withdrawal and are a major driver for relapse in AUD.¹⁴ Also, the powerful effects of alcohol on neurocircuits relating to reward and relief cause the brain to attach strong motivational value or incentive salience to the cues associated with alcohol, whether in the immediate environment or recalled from memory. These environmental stimuli, or thoughts of them, can prompt a return to alcohol seeking via connections made between the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia using the neurotransmitter glutamate. Especially when combined with negative emotional or physical states, the sight or thought of alcohol or related cues can trigger cravings, or the urge to drink.

Executive function becomes dysregulated. Alcohol disrupts function in the prefrontal cortical areas involved in executive function, impulse control, decision-making, and emotional regulation.¹ These functional deficits make it harder to withstand urges and avoid repeating the behaviors related to the addiction cycle, particularly in the face of stress and physical and emotional discomfort.¹ In severe cases, impairments in prefrontal cortical function can persist despite months to years of abstinence, making it particularly difficult to recover from or compensate for deficits in executive function.¹⁵

Figure 1. Conceptual framework for the neurobiological bases of addiction (and the brain areas involved)

Addiction can be described as a repeating three-stage cycle, with each stage associated with different brain regions, neurocircuits, and neurotransmitters. ¹ Drawn from decades of research, this cycle models processes that people with addiction may experience repeatedly over the course of a day, weeks, or months. 1,16,17

The binge/intoxication stage (associated with circuits in the basal ganglia): The person drinks alcohol, which activates reward circuits and engages "incentive salience" circuits. Incentive salience circuits link the pleasurable, rewarding experience with "cues," that is, the people, places, and things present when drinking, such that the cues themselves gain motivational significance. These and other neurocircuits help develop and strengthen habitual drinking and may lay the groundwork for compulsive use of alcohol. Neurotransmitters associated with this stage include dopamine, GABA, glutamate, and opioid peptides.

The withdrawal/negative affect stage (associated with circuits in the extended amygdala): When the person stops drinking, reward circuit activity decreases while stress circuits activate. Together, these changes fuel negative emotional states such as anxiety, dysphoria, and irritability. The person feels alcohol is needed for temporary relief from discomfort and emotional pain. This stage involves (1) the loss of reward neurotransmitters-as in a hypodopaminergic state, (2) the activation of stress neurotransmitters-such as corticotropin releasing factor, dynorphin, norepinephrine, hypocretin, and vasopressin-and possibly proinflammatory immune agents, and (3) the inhibition of anti-stress neurotransmitters-such as neuropeptide Y, nociceptin, endocannabinoids, and oxytocin.

The preoccupation/anticipation stage (associated with circuits in the prefrontal cortex): The person with an addiction has impairments in executive function processes that normally limit impulsive and compulsive responses. The person has strong urges or cravings to drink, especially in response to stress, related negative emotions, and cues that are part of the incentive salience circuits activated in the first stage of the cycle. Neurotransmitters associated with this stage include glutamate and ghrelin.

While people who drink heavily often enter the addiction cycle via the binge/intoxication stage, they can also enter via the withdrawal/negative affect stage (by attempting, for example, to self-medicate physical or emotional pain), or the preoccupation/anticipation stage (by attempting, for example, to self-medicate a high impulsivity condition).

For more information, see this seven-minute video on the Neurocircuitry of AUD.

What do healthcare professionals who work with adolescents need to know about alcohol?

The developing adolescent brain is particularly vulnerable to alcohol-related harm. Alcohol is a powerful reinforcer in adolescents because the brain's reward system is fully developed while the executive function system is not, and because there is a powerful social aspect to adolescent drinking. Specifically, prefrontal regions involved in executive functions and their connections to other brain regions are not fully developed in adolescents, which may make it harder for them to regulate the motivation to drink. Because the brain is adaptable and learns quickly during adolescence, and because alcohol is such a strong reinforcer for adolescents, alcohol use is more likely to be repeated, become a habit, and eventually evolve into a problematic drinking pattern that may lead to AUD.

When adolescents drink heavily, alcohol can disrupt critical brain development patterns 18,19 by accelerating the volume decline in frontal cortical gray matter that typically occurs in early adolescence and by slowing the volume increase in white matter that typically occurs in late adolescence. ²⁰ In addition, heavy drinking in adolescence increases the risk for developing AUD later in life, with the earlier the onset of any drinking, the greater the AUD risk. 21,22

In short, alcohol use during adolescence can interfere with structural and functional brain development and increase the risk for AUD not only during adolescence but also into adulthood. To help clinicians prevent alcohol-related harm in adolescents, NIAAA developed a clinician's guide that provides a quick and effective screening tool (see Resources below).

How does the brain recover?

Just as brain plasticity contributes to the development of AUD, it can be harnessed to help the brain heal and to establish healthy behavior patterns that facilitate recovery. The extent of the brain's capacity to return to "normal" following long-term sobriety is not fully understood. ²³ However, a growing number of studies indicate that at least some AUD-induced brain changes-and the changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that accompany them-can improve and possibly reverse with months of abstinence. 15,24 Even in individuals with lingering alterations in brain circuitry and function due to AUD, there is evidence that other circuits can compensate to help restore compromised function. 20,25,26

Healthcare professionals offer two types of evidence-based treatments for AUD that help the brain and the patient as a whole to recover: FDA-approved AUD medications and behavioral healthcare.

Medications. Medications to treat AUD can facilitate healthy brain changes by helping people to cut down or quit drinking. Three non-addicting medications are FDA-approved to treat AUD and can be easily prescribed in primary care-acamprosate, naltrexone, and disulfiram. Acamprosate helps prevent relapse by acting to blunt the activity of glutamatergic neurocircuits, which drive the emotional discomforts of anxiety, irritability, dysphoria, and insomnia. This emotional discomfort often occurs during protracted abstinence, and often triggers a relapse.²⁷ Naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist, reduces the pleasurable effects of alcohol by interfering with its effects on opioid peptide activity in the basal ganglia circuitry.28,29 In contrast, disulfiram does not work on brain circuitry, but instead interferes with alcohol metabolism by preventing the breakdown of the toxic alcohol metabolite acetaldehyde. Consuming alcohol while taking disulfiram causes acetaldehyde to build up in the blood stream, producing facial flushing, throbbing headache, nausea, and other highly aversive effects.³⁰ Each of these medications can help the patient maintain sobriety, or reduce drinking significantly, which may allow behavioral health treatments to be applied to best advantage.

Behavioral healthcare. When people become preoccupied with drinking alcohol, their cognitive control neurocircuits can struggle to regulate urges to drink, particularly when under stress.³¹ Alcohol also can directly damage these brain circuits, making it even harder to regulate urges. Neuroimaging studies indicate that behavioral health interventions for AUD can normalize activity in the reward and stress circuitry of the brain, while strengthening cognitive networks that help inhibit the drive to drink.³² For example, therapeutic approaches that teach mindfulness and coping skills can alter neural circuits associated with craving and help people tolerate and resist urges to drink.33,34 Other behavioral health interventions include cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational enhancement therapy, contingency management, couples and family counseling, and twelve-step facilitation to encourage active involvement in mutual support groups such as AA, SMART Recovery, and Secular AA (See Resources, below).

Together, medication and behavioral health treatments can facilitate functional brain recovery. For more details, see the Core article on treatment.

In closing, brain alterations underlying addiction not only drive the addiction process itself but also make it difficult for many people with AUD to change their drinking behavior, particularly if they are struggling to cope with the considerable discomfort of acute or protracted withdrawal. You can promote healthy changes in the brains and behaviors of patients with AUD by encouraging them to take a long-term, science-based approach to getting better. For practical, evidence-based tips on supporting your patients with AUD, see the Core articles on treatment, referral, and recovery.

Resources

Adolescent Primary Care Mutual Support Groups
References

We invite healthcare professionals including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, and psychologists to complete a post-test after reviewing this article to earn FREE continuing education (CME/CE) credit. This CME/CE credit opportunity is jointly provided by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and NIAAA.

Correctly Answer 3 of the 4 Post-Test Questions to Earn CME/CE Credit for This Article
Released on 5/6/2022
Expires on 5/10/2025
Please note that you will need to log into or create an account on CME University in order to complete this post-test.

Learning Objectives

After completing this activity, the participant should be better able to:

Discuss brain changes involved in the development and maintenance of AUD.

Identify reasons the adolescent brain is particularly susceptible to alcohol-related harm.

Describe the importance of neuroplasticity in addiction and recovery.

Contributors

Contributors to this article for the NIAAA Core Resource on Alcohol include the writers for the full article, content contributors to subsections, reviewers, and editorial staff. These contributors included both experts external to NIAAA as well as NIAAA staff.

NIAAA Writers

George F. Koob, PhD
Director, NIAAA

External Reviewers

Louis E. Baxter Sr., MD, DFASAM
Assistant Professor Medicine, ADM
Fellowship Director, Howard University
Hospital, Washington, DC;
Assistant Clinical Professor Medicine
Rutgers Medical School, Newark, NJ

Hector Colon-Rivera MD, MRO
Medical Director of Asociacion
Puertorriquenos En Marcha, Inc;
Attending at University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center, Philadelphia, PA

Olivier George, PhD
Associate Professor, Adjunct Codirector Arc
Animal Core, Department of Neuroscience,
Scripps Research, CA

Patricia E. Molina, MD, PhD
Professor and Department Head of Physiology,
Louisiana State University,
New Orleans, LA

Alan F. Schatzberg, MD
Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor, Department
of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Kimberly Tallian, PharmD, APh, BCPP, FASHP, FCCP, FCSHP
Advance Practice Pharmacist, Psychiatry,
Scripps Mercy Hospital;
Adjunct Clinical Professor, School of Pharmacy
and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego,
La Jolla, California

NIAAA Reviewers

George F. Koob, PhD
Director, NIAAA

Patricia Powell, PhD
Deputy Director, NIAAA

Nancy Diazgranados, MD, MS, DFAPA
Deputy Clinical Director, NIAAA

Lorenzo Leggio, MD, PhD
NIDA/NIAAA Senior Clinical Investigator and Section Chief;
NIDA Branch Chief;
NIDA Deputy Scientific Director;
Senior Medical Advisor to the NIAAA Director

Editorial Team

NIAAA

Laura E. Kwako, PhD
Editor and Content Advisor for the Core Resource on Alcohol,
Health Scientist Administrator,
Division of Treatment and Recovery, NIAAA

Maureen B. Gardner
Project Manager, Co-Lead Technical Editor, and
Writer for the Core Resource on Alcohol,
Division of Treatment and Recovery, NIAAA

Contract Support

To learn more about CME/CE credit offered as well as disclosures, visit our CME/CE General Information page. You may also click here to learn more about contributors.

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National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

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Alcohol is dually reinforcing because it can both activate the brain's reward processing system that mediates pleasure and reduce the activity of the brain's systems that mediate negative emotional states such as stress, anxiety, and emotional pain.

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This article has an interesting point of view while asking the question is everybody truly addicted to something? It has good details for the brain's affects.

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In one way or another, each person has at least one addiction when we broaden the way we view addictions. In my view, addiction is much more widespread than most people think.

Alcohol, drugs, and substances are not the only addictions possible. Many people are addicted to worrying, work, sex, social media, phones, and relationships. We are all addicts. The real question isn't whether or not we have an addiction, but whether our addictions have us.

Taking a Closer Look

To what degree are you affected by your addiction(s)? How often do you engage in activities that bring you back to yourself in an effort to counteract the impact your addiction has on you?

If we're truly taking care of ourselves, a small addiction to social media or to binge-watching a new show won't do much damage in our lives. However, if we neglect the necessary tasks in our lives and use social media or binge-watching as an escape from our desires and responsibilities, then surely the impact these habits have on our lives will compound over time and prove very damaging.

We could even say that some of us are addicted to a certain emotion. A lot of men experience anger, and some women chronically worry. Feeling stuck in an emotion can really feel like being stuck in an addictive habit.

Addiction vs. Fixation

We could replace the word "addiction" with "fixation." Then the question is: How can I get non-fixated? We tend to feel non-fixated (or simply at peace) when we feel grounded and when our minds are still. I often feel this way after a good workout. Exercising sure is an amazing way to get grounded!

Getting in touch with our emotions helps us connect with ourselves more deeply. For this, I often journal and write down how I'm feeling. I don't write what my mind is doing (what I'm thinking) but I focus on how I feel. Once I'm in touch with my emotions more, my thinking becomes clearer and I get to understand what's actually happening inside.

So much of our fixations have to do with our minds being very active. We get stuck in a mental loop, thinking and going in circles within the dark mazes of our minds. Paying attention to our thinking ends our being lost in it. A short moment of mental awareness can bring us into our bodies.

Getting Grounded

Dropping into the body also frees up our mental capacity from being fixated on itself. So bring and keep bringing your attention to your body and drop out of your mind as often as possible during the day. When a feeling to use, escape, or turn to something that emotionally soothes you comes up, try urge surfing through meditation. Try not to act on the craving immediately. We know, easier said than done, but meditation can help.

Set a timer for 20 minutes and close your eyes. Sit comfortably with your back straight. This is a practice of "not doing." Rest like this and when your mind takes over, gently notice this and bring your attention to how you're feeling.

During these 20 minutes, you might get a few seconds of your attention being totally immersed in your body instead of your mind. These are moments of deep peace and groundedness. Keep practicing and you'll find that this formal practice begins to change how you feel throughout your day.

Bottom Line

At the end of the day, we all experience addiction in different forms. Where it becomes a potential issue is when your life is affected negatively and your sense of control is lost. Really think about areas in your life where feelings of escaping, avoiding and retracting come up and why they do. Remember, every single person has a vice, it's just recognizing if the vice has you that's important.

For help with addiction and/or mental health or questions regarding treatment, please call us at any time. At Sunshine Coast Health Centre, we have a team ready to answer any questions you may have and guide you in the right direction.

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Is Everyone Addicted to Something? - Sunshine Coast

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Each person has at least one addiction when we broaden the way we view addictions. It's much more widespread than most people think.