Addiction And Paladaptive Behavior

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Recommended: Effects that addiction has on behaviour

Addiction is the loss of control from abstinence of a particular action or substance. West (2001) described addiction as an excessive appetite for a particular substance or thing that one is unable to restrain from. Addiction is characterized by feelings of powerlessness over a certain behavior or substance. There are many forms of addiction such as alcohol and drug use, gambling, sexual conducts and foods. Addiction can also be described as a maladaptive behavior, which can occur when a person is unable to adapt to a particular situation. When some people are faced with conflicts in life, they turn to addictive behaviors in order to try to cope with them. An individual develops cravings and is unable to control these cravings hence leading …show more content…

They do not see any fault in adapting to that situation.
• The maladaptive behavior seems to be working at the beginning. Addictive behaviors such as alcohol and drug use at first seem as if they are bringing comfort to the user. They seem harmless at first with no major consequences but later become harmful addictions.
• The party faced with maladaptive issue is prepared to face deterioration in their life. The individual makes the decision to continue with the maladaptive behavior despite any consequence that may follow such an addiction.
Addiction can therefore be described as a maladaptive behavior from the definition and characteristics of people with maladaptive behaviors. CAPS theory can also be used to describe addiction as a maladaptive behavior (Yonda & Smith, 2004). As discussed earlier, CAPS theory deals with the interactions of cognitive qualities to define a relationship between a particular person and a certain situation. Addiction is caused by behavioral, situational or genetically factors. Cognitive characteristics such as anxiety, stress, hopelessness or even joy can cause a person to turn to excessive and uncontrollable use of a particular …show more content…

Financial difficulties- in cases where the substance or activity is expensive, the addict opts to sacrifice an activity so that he can keep up with the addiction.
In accordance to CAPS theory, the individual facing addiction after continued uncontrollable use of a thing or substance obtains a new behavioral pattern different from his previous behavior (Yin, 2013). The acquired new behavior of individuals with addiction brings about problems which include:
• Interpersonal relationship problems- the addict loses his or her close relationships. The behavioral change caused by addiction makes the person unable to keep his interpersonal relationships and a quittance. The loss is a result of lack of shared interest in addiction.
• Neglect of responsibility. Due to impaired perception, all the addict thinks about is how to keep up his maladaptive behavior. As a result, he neglects other responsibility such as family, work and school. In other circumstances, these responsibilities are performed poorly.
• A dysfunctional emotion state- addiction brings about difficulty in identifying and expressing feelings. When one tries to stop the addiction, he is faced with anxiety, becomes agitated and experiences emotional

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