Addiction refers to a cluster of thinking, behavioral and physiological
signs that indicate that an individual persists to use a substance or
multiple substances (like alcohol, caffeine, cocaine, etc.) or continues a
behavioral pattern (for example, gambling, overeating) despite the risk
associated with their actions. This is because indulging in such activities
triggers the reward system of the brain and leads to the release of a
neurotransmitter known as dopamine. Neurotransmitters are responsible for
carrying information from one part of the brain to another. Thus, with the
release of dopamine, an individual feels pleasure. This pleasure element
then gets associated with an addictive substance or behavior a person may be
indulging in.
One phenomenon related to addiction is craving. Craving involves intense
urges. However, cravings can be so intense that a substance user may spend
an inordinate amount of effort to continue the addictive behavior. For
example, a person spends most of his day finding liquor one wants to consume
by missing a work appointment, or an individual who wastes his savings on
gambling. Therefore, addiction urges potentially affect important areas of
functioning.
Ways Of Dealing With Addiction Urges
There are multiple ways of dealing with addiction urges. These strategies
allow an individual to constructively respond to urges related to addictive
behavior. Some ways of dealing with urges are as follows:
Identify triggers: The primary step in dealing with any urge is to make note of the
conditions that encourage it. For example, having a rough day at work may
make a person susceptible to overeating, or being with friends who enjoy
gambling makes one engage in the same activity, etc. Identifying the
situation or stressful triggers helps in creating an individualized plan for
recovery.
Distraction and Avoidance: Distraction involves getting oneself involved in a task or activity that
requires investing our physical and mental efforts. For example, engaging
oneself in a workout routine or sport, chatting with a friend, or listening
to music are some ways to distract oneself from the urges. These activities
can help reduce the strength of an urge. On the other hand, avoiding a
situation is also helpful to curb indulging in urges. For example, avoiding
parties for a few weeks so as to abstain from smoking or drinking
excessively.
Stress Management: Stress acts as a major trigger in encouraging urges to continue addictive
behavior. Stress management to deal with urges, therefore, focuses on
pursuing methods of relaxation (like taking up a creative activity for
example), building better social support systems (for example, joining
support groups), etc.
Psychotherapy: Many psychotherapeutic approaches assist clients in dealing with urges.
For example, techniques in
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy encourage clients to deal with maladaptive thoughts and behavior patterns
related to addictive behavior. While supportive psychodynamic psychotherapy
offers ways of dealing with emotional or past traumatic experiences that
usually tend to increase the probability of substance use and abuse.
Recovery from addiction is a challenging task and coping with urges can
be very difficult. Thus, facing urges begins with acknowledging and
accepting their presence. This helps in deciding the future course of
action. Dealing with urges needs consistent effort and usually, various
strategies described above under the guidance or supervision of
professionals like
psychiatrists
or
clinical psychologists
can help to cope.