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.