Addictions to Substances, Alcohol, and Thrills

The emptiness and loneliness of addictions are often only briefly escaped by using substances or alcohol. Distractions from stress or loneliness can often be accomplished by using the thrill or excitement felt when using pornography or searching the web for titillating video. Gambling, embezzling, or sexual risks can give a momentary feeling of power or release that ends with guilt or despair.

Addictions can often be experienced in a cycle of over-work followed by a let-down and thought pattern suggesting that you deserve to drink, use, or be aroused. The lack of healthy self-care and conceptualization of self-indulgence as an appropriate reward can be treated with specific methods of cognitive and behavioral therapies.

Treatment of the lack of impulse control seen in addictions can sometimes be accomplished in out-patient work, although there are times when admission to in-patient facilities is the only option. When the Center cannot be of service, we make referrals to other facilities.

Outpatient therapy for addictions and impulse control difficulties is often an “after-care” service meant to build on successes accomplished through in-patient or partial day rehabilitation programs, or to augment 12-step programs.

Gambling Addiction is one of the fastest, and most harmful, addictions—particularly among college students.