Habits and Addictions – Day 13

We’ve thrown around a few different terms over the past two weeks – habit, addiction, compulsion. People use these words loosely, but they each have a specific meaning.

We’ll distinguish between them to help you understand what exactly it is you’re dealing with.

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Consider Your Own Porn Use

A bad habit can become an addiction, especially when there are psychological, physical and emotional factors involved. Here are some definitions that might help:

• Habit: A settled or regular tendency or practice, which can be positive or negative, such as brushing your teeth, or complaining a lot. A custom, practice, routine, or pattern.
• Addiction: A compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance or activity. The persistent compulsive use of something known by the user to be harmful. Addiction is characterized by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal.
• Compulsion: An irresistible persistent impulse to perform an act.

The Starting Point

Admitting that you have a problem is the starting point of solving that problem. Whether it’s a bad habit or an addiction, it wont go away by ignoring it. A strategy, treatment plan, or intervention is needed.