Behaviors you do repeatedly become your habits.
If a behavior is reinforced, it has the potential to become compulsive and compulsive habits become addictions.
Addictions occur when, despite negative consequences, the behavior is repeated to obtain a "perceived" reward.
A reward can be anything that increases ones perception of immediate well-being.
This reward craving and dependence fuel addictions.
With repeated use over time, brain chemistry can become altered to need the substance or behavior to achieve a perceived feeling of normalcy.
Without the behavior or substance, withdrawal symptoms appear.
Many addictions become mentally imbedded within the brain.
The basil ganglia permanently stores habits and memories.
These deep associations lie just under the surface, waiting to be triggered and recalled.
This permanent mental storage being constantly triggered, accounts for relapses and why addictions cause lifetime struggles.
Some compulsive habits, while not addictions, have obvious triggers that begin the mental spiral of longing.
This can create a "dependency cycle" where the trigger leads to the behavioral response, which then leads back to the trigger.
Those who engage this cycle can begin to alter brain pathways that assist in reward seeking.
This cycle is perpetuated when what people choose to use for relief, causes them further distress.
Take for instance, someone who eats too much.
This behavior causes them to feel depressed and guilty, and that makes them want to eat more, to numb those feelings.
Certain situations, places, or people may be a cue to trigger memories that highlight a reward in your thoughts, creating a strong desire for the substance or behavior.
Any behavior that is repeated creates mental cues and those cues trigger thoughts of previous rewards.
For instance, if you regularly got fattening snacks every time you went to the convenience store, that association will trigger a longing for those snacks each time you go there again.
People engage in potentially harmful behaviors for either reward or relief, each creating strong memory cues and associations.
Associations develop between cue and reward (convenience store = snacks), which is then cemented in the basil ganglia (the mental storehouse for habits).
This cue triggers the release of dopamine, a strong neurotransmitter, which provides a pleasant sensation or boost.
The anticipation of the increased dopamine release reinforces the habit.
You want that boost, and the associated dopamine release cues you to crave the behavior or substance associated with that reward.
Perception and belief will amplify dopamine firing.
The more you think about, believe, and perceive that the reward will be pleasurable, the greater the dopamine release.
People commonly make reward based decisions.
Compulsive over consumption is a common reward-based habit.
Overeating, excess drinking, promiscuity, smoking, gambling, and other such behaviors can become problems as reward seeking gets out of control.
Indulging your desire for the compulsive behavior creates a stronger neurotransmitter connection that can perpetuate the negative cycle.
Identifying your reward cues and triggers can help you combat compulsive behavior.
By altering your beliefs and expectations, you also alter dopamine release linked to past behaviors.
When you create a new perception about the compulsive situation, you can reduce the neurotransmitter response that pushes your cravings for it.
Along with compulsive reward seeking and over consumption is compulsive over-avoidance.
These are threat-based habits.
Compulsive over-avoidance is a relief-seeking behavior.
Things that cause anxiety, depression, or fear can cause over-avoidance as a coping mechanism to avoid negative feelings.
For instance, someone avoids healthy relationships because of a subconscious fear of having their heart broken.
Compulsions are more common than one would think, and often go unidentified.
Uncovering and acknowledging your compulsions is the first step to taking control of negative behavior.
The second step is to create a plan to circumvent it.
The final step is implementing your plan in situations where you feel compelled to repeat the unwanted behavior.
This type of intervention can help you break free of destructive mental associations, assist you in the formation of healthier coping measures, and move you toward personal goal attainment.
If a behavior is reinforced, it has the potential to become compulsive and compulsive habits become addictions.
Addictions occur when, despite negative consequences, the behavior is repeated to obtain a "perceived" reward.
A reward can be anything that increases ones perception of immediate well-being.
This reward craving and dependence fuel addictions.
With repeated use over time, brain chemistry can become altered to need the substance or behavior to achieve a perceived feeling of normalcy.
Without the behavior or substance, withdrawal symptoms appear.
Many addictions become mentally imbedded within the brain.
The basil ganglia permanently stores habits and memories.
These deep associations lie just under the surface, waiting to be triggered and recalled.
This permanent mental storage being constantly triggered, accounts for relapses and why addictions cause lifetime struggles.
Some compulsive habits, while not addictions, have obvious triggers that begin the mental spiral of longing.
This can create a "dependency cycle" where the trigger leads to the behavioral response, which then leads back to the trigger.
Those who engage this cycle can begin to alter brain pathways that assist in reward seeking.
This cycle is perpetuated when what people choose to use for relief, causes them further distress.
Take for instance, someone who eats too much.
This behavior causes them to feel depressed and guilty, and that makes them want to eat more, to numb those feelings.
Certain situations, places, or people may be a cue to trigger memories that highlight a reward in your thoughts, creating a strong desire for the substance or behavior.
Any behavior that is repeated creates mental cues and those cues trigger thoughts of previous rewards.
For instance, if you regularly got fattening snacks every time you went to the convenience store, that association will trigger a longing for those snacks each time you go there again.
People engage in potentially harmful behaviors for either reward or relief, each creating strong memory cues and associations.
Associations develop between cue and reward (convenience store = snacks), which is then cemented in the basil ganglia (the mental storehouse for habits).
This cue triggers the release of dopamine, a strong neurotransmitter, which provides a pleasant sensation or boost.
The anticipation of the increased dopamine release reinforces the habit.
You want that boost, and the associated dopamine release cues you to crave the behavior or substance associated with that reward.
Perception and belief will amplify dopamine firing.
The more you think about, believe, and perceive that the reward will be pleasurable, the greater the dopamine release.
People commonly make reward based decisions.
Compulsive over consumption is a common reward-based habit.
Overeating, excess drinking, promiscuity, smoking, gambling, and other such behaviors can become problems as reward seeking gets out of control.
Indulging your desire for the compulsive behavior creates a stronger neurotransmitter connection that can perpetuate the negative cycle.
Identifying your reward cues and triggers can help you combat compulsive behavior.
By altering your beliefs and expectations, you also alter dopamine release linked to past behaviors.
When you create a new perception about the compulsive situation, you can reduce the neurotransmitter response that pushes your cravings for it.
Along with compulsive reward seeking and over consumption is compulsive over-avoidance.
These are threat-based habits.
Compulsive over-avoidance is a relief-seeking behavior.
Things that cause anxiety, depression, or fear can cause over-avoidance as a coping mechanism to avoid negative feelings.
For instance, someone avoids healthy relationships because of a subconscious fear of having their heart broken.
Compulsions are more common than one would think, and often go unidentified.
Uncovering and acknowledging your compulsions is the first step to taking control of negative behavior.
The second step is to create a plan to circumvent it.
The final step is implementing your plan in situations where you feel compelled to repeat the unwanted behavior.
This type of intervention can help you break free of destructive mental associations, assist you in the formation of healthier coping measures, and move you toward personal goal attainment.
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