How Does Self-deception Affect Behavioral Addictions?
The person who is immersed in an addiction is not able to get out of the vicious circle that it represents on his or her own. Therefore, to be able to overcome it, the person affected must go to a specialist who will set some guidelines to follow and who will guide the entire process. One of the most difficult steps is to take the plunge and agree to go to therapy; However, this is not the main difficulty that these people must face.
One of the main characteristics of addictions is the mixed feelings that those affected feel towards their problem. If they have decided to go to therapy, it is because they know that their behavior is not beneficial and that they need help; However, they can often feel at the same time a kind of “longing” for their addiction and can promote, through justifications and excuses, a return to their old way of life.
There are two types of addictions: those that occur towards specific substances, such as drugs, alcohol or tobacco, and behavioral addictions. In this article we will focus on the latter and on What are the main self-deceptions that those who have developed a behavioral addiction can suffer, and how do they affect them?
As we have mentioned in the previous section, behavioral addictions are those that manifest a dependence on a behavior and not on a substance. They would be behavioral addictions, for example, constant and uncontrolled participation in games of chance, or the need to always be playing online video games, for example.
It’s important to put attention on For these behaviors to be considered addictions, they must constitute a repetitive pattern that deteriorates the person’s quality of life and causes a series of damages, both physical and psychological (greater impulsiveness, low tolerance for frustration, aggressiveness…). Addictions in general can cause great economic damage and considerable deterioration in the emotional and social relationships of the affected person.
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that, Behavioral addictions very often go hand in hand with substance addictions since the framework in which they develop (pathological gambling, for example) is usually linked to alcohol, drugs and other addictive substances.
The effects of self-deception on behavioral addictions
For the addicted person, spending a specific amount of time without performing the act that is the basis of their addiction is a prospect that generates large doses of anxiety and stress. In this way, the affected person develops a series of thoughts whose sole mission is to relieve the pressure that this places on them. We know these types of thoughts as self-deceptive thoughts. Below, we present 5 of the most frequent self-deceptions in this type of addictions:
1. Not identifying relapses or downplaying them
Usually, the affected person is aware that they are falling back into an episode of addictive behavior; however, sometimes he doesn’t accept it or tries to believe that what he is doing has nothing to do with his addiction
2. Disguise addiction as something “morally” acceptable
Some people who are victims of behavioral addictions put distance, often unconsciously, between their problem and other types of more obvious or less socially accepted addictions, such as drug addiction. So, A person who is addicted to gambling may not see the problem compared to someone who uses cocaine daily
When an addiction is substance-based, it is much easier to recognize the act that leads us to relapse. For example, in the case of tobacco addiction, it would clearly be lighting a cigarette.
However, what happens when the addiction is based on behaviors? Which will be much more difficult for the affected person recognize that you are about to fall back into that impulse which can lead to excusing behaviors and hindering the healing process.
4. Thinking you can “control”
This is one of the most common self-deceptions. The affected person considers that they have already made enough progress to “control” their behavior, so they lower their guard when it comes to “dangerous” situations.
5. Excuse addiction with the idea of being “learning”
Although it may seem strange or contradictory, it is a common self-deception. The addicted person carries out the compulsive behavior under the excuse of training or improving their learning in this regard, experimenting with the different facets of addiction. In reality, the only thing that is achieved is returning to the vicious addictive cycle again
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