Addiction is an internal demon, a certain circuit that has taken control of the mind and which is beyond a person’s control until awareness is turned on. This also applies to fatal addictions to alcohol and hard drugs, which destroy a person’s personality in a very short time, and to many mild addictions that a person does not even suspect are addictions. ORIGIN OF DEPENDENCIES Let’s take for a striking example the most severe type of addiction – drug addiction. Where did the person even get the drugs? How did it occur to him to destroy himself with their help? Entheogens These are the names of plants that can bring a person into an altered state of consciousness - from a mild sedative to a deeply narcotic one. Entheogen translated from Greek means “inspiring, deifying” (“en” - entry, “theo” - “god”, “gen” - facilitating). Why did nature create plants that can kill humans and other living beings, if everything in nature is reasonable? The answer is simple: these are medicinal plants intended for use in microdoses, painkillers. When a person undergoes surgery, he is given anesthesia. There is a similar phenomenon in nature: a wounded or sick animal or person must take certain plants in order to recover. After recovery, the use is stopped. But that is intelligent nature. In ancient times, the “miraculous properties” of some plants were used by priests. They treated people, including mental illness, and also used entheogen plants for temple initiations. All this was used in reasonable doses that were not harmful to humans. The coca plant, from which cocaine is made, for example, is a natural adaptogen that helps residents of the Andean highlands calmly overcome altitude sickness at an altitude of 3 - 4 thousand meters above the sea. In Peru, coca is legal for consumption and is a traditional national plant. Often, plants containing potent substances in their related family have more harmless “neighbors” that contain the same substances or their analogues in microdoses, and we know these plants as medicinal. For example, sleeping pills poppy (papaver somniferum), from which morphine is obtained, which is a powerful analgesic, and garden poppy (papaver rhoeas), from which antispasmodics are obtained, c. including the well-known drotaverine (no-shpa), - plants of the same family. The same analogy can be seen with sage: sage of fortunetellers (salvia divinorum), a strong hallucinogen, and the well-known medicinal sage (salvia sclarea) are plants of the same group. The active substance salvinorin is contained in both types, but in medicinal sage only in microdoses, perhaps that is why it is credited with the property of awakening intuition. In nature, everything is reasonable, but man suffers due to abuse. Uncontrolled use of potent psychoactive substances turns off the work of opiate centers in the human nervous system that produce endorphins - joy hormones, and addiction is formed when a person cannot find a place for himself without the next dose. We will not consider how to overcome addictions to hard drugs and alcohol, which are the most destructive to a person: this requires complex treatment with detoxification, systematic work of a clinical psychologist, and mandatory treatment for relatives to overcome codependency. But we will consider milder addictions. MILD DRUGS soft drugs that do not form biochemical dependence include, for example, marijuana and some others, which we do not name in order to avoid abuse. Smoking marijuana creates the fun that a person in a depressed mood lacks. We are experiencing dependence on a euphoric state, without which life seems dull. The way to overcome addiction is to accept the fact that fun and euphoria are not the only emotions a person experiences, and to find ways to experience euphoria without the use of chemicals.doping One of these methods is holotropic breathing, which changes the parameters of the brain by oversaturating it with oxygen. A person falls into euphoria in a different way and realizes that he can generate positive emotions himself. Attachment to other light drugs is also overcome by esoteric practices and methods of transpersonal psychology, leading a person to controlled altered states of consciousness. TOBACCO This plant is also an entheogen. If it were not for the unpleasant odor that deters non-smokers, and the extreme harm to the human cardiovascular and respiratory systems, smoking tobacco would not be considered a bad habit. Nicotine promotes vasoconstriction, which manifests itself in a feeling of vigor and increased cognitive abilities. You can overcome nicotine addiction on your own. However, this requires a set of measures. In addition to quitting smoking, you need to exclude from your life everything that is associated with this habit: the euphoria of joint smoking breaks, smoking breaks as a break from tedious work, the company of smokers, being surrounded by codependents. Perhaps someone will need the help of a psychologist for this. There are examples of people quitting tobacco on their own. It is important, at the same time as quitting smoking, to start or intensify exercise, breathing exercises, and change your diet. The usual menu in our country does not add vigor: it contains a lot of simple carbohydrates and “dead” foods devoid of vitamins. The diet should consist of easily digestible animal protein, fresh vegetables, and herbs. A healthy diet will help you quit tobacco. Finally, a codependent environment. There are people who will not want a smoker to quit smoking. I have seen how relatives reintroduced a person who had quit smoking to tobacco. They wanted him to be like them all, that is, to smoke. The non-smoker was inconvenient to them. This situation often occurs when a person is trying to change something in his life. In this case, a decision is needed: what is more important for a person: to realize his intention or to allow a bunch of people to push him back into dependence. Quitting smoking or other unpleasant habit is not difficult. It's hard to give up people who encourage you to continue this habit. Think about it and make a choice. CAFFEINE ADDICTION There is nothing wrong with us drinking 1 – 2 cups of coffee a day. But if a person drinks several cups of strong coffee and forgets to eat, this will quickly lead his body to exhaustion. A complete refusal of coffee may be accompanied by headaches and other unpleasant symptoms of “caffeine withdrawal.” In this case, to overcome addiction you need a detox program, a well-designed nutrition program with a predominance of fresh vegetables, fruits, smoothies, as well as physical activity and breathing practices. It is also very important to maintain a drinking regime. FOOD ADDICTION Addiction can be said when a person significantly exceeds his or her dietary allowance, which leads to unpleasant health consequences: poor digestion, excess weight, diabetes, shortness of breath. We can talk about addiction when a person eats not to satisfy hunger. Food, and plenty of it, accompanies everything: communication, reading books, work. He looks for a buffet or cafe wherever he happens to be. The man cannot stop. In this way, he is trying to cope with anxiety. Overcoming this addiction will include correction of eating behavior, mindfulness, meditative and breathing practices, physical activity, and interesting pastime not related to food. It is important to ask yourself the question: why is a person’s life so devoid of joy that food remains the only pleasure? Dealing with the environment and codependency is just as important. It's no secret that someone needs us exclusively when we are sick, ugly, fat, with disabilities, if you like. These people will seek to return us to habits that we want to give up. Codependency requires separate consideration. GAMING ADDICTION Casinos, horse racing, bookmakers, slot machines,lotteries, card games and other attractions that invite people to “play” use a person’s emotional button, which is turned on by the thirst for quick money. Having not yet won anything, a person already experiences euphoria from the fact that he can hit the jackpot. Two or three losses with complete zero take a person out of this addiction. However, for example, casinos know that they need to let a person win first so that he gets the thrill of easy money. Positive reinforcement is created, and the person will come again and again. Cognitive-behavioral therapy with equalization of the emotional background, as well as breaking the connection between betting/putting money into the gambling machine and imaginary winnings, removes gambling addiction. As soon as a person realizes that giving money to a casino or gambling machine is the same as throwing it into a trash bin, the addiction stops. DEPENDENCIES OF THE ILLUSORY WORLD Such addictions are everything where a fictitious reality replaces a person’s natural one. A person goes into an imaginary world, ignoring what is happening in reality. Addiction to computer games Tanks, shooters, recreation of historical reality with multiple gradients, where you can achieve something. If in the game you are a knight with a ruby ​​crown or a favorite of the Sultan, but in reality your promotion or other professional achievements are not up to par, this provides compensation. There is nothing wrong with entertainment if a reasonable proportion is observed: “Time for business, time for fun.” However, for example, when a husband returns from work, flies past his wife, hastily had dinner, sits down at the computer, and plays a game all evening, he is unlikely to delight his wife and children. If this continues constantly, he risks losing his family. Overcoming addiction is self-control and limiting the amount of time for gambling per day or week. That is, do not forbid yourself to play, but go in for a short time once a day, for example, after work. Gadget addiction I once came across a sad meme of our time: a guy and a girl are making love, and in their hands they have phones on which they are talking to someone are texting. It characterizes the state when virtual communication is more important than live communication, when a living person nearby is not valuable, and some kind of correspondence, wandering on the Internet acquires a strange value. Integration of such dependence can be a trip to a village where there is no Internet, or on a hike for several days. The contrast of perception will be so noticeable that it can lead to the realization: real life is much more beautiful than virtual life. A regular schedule of face-to-face classes that are incompatible with gadgets also helps against gadget addiction: sports training, yoga, excursions, trekking, rafting and much more. Live impressions are not comparable to those provided by gadgets, and the value of the latter begins to fade into the shadows. To reduce the impact on the eyes, it is recommended to install a night theme and a blue filter (yellow filter) on all gadgets.. Porn addiction Porn films film the fantasies of a person that do not exist in real. The intimate life of a man and a woman is structured somewhat differently. Porn is a “taste enhancer” that a person does not have in real life. Porn addiction has a negative impact on a person’s intimate life: he may begin to make absurd demands on his partner, without which he has no arousal and does not get pleasure. This can turn your partner off. Integrating porn addiction is working through taboo sexual fantasies with a sex therapist. With the help of a special process, fantasies are transformed into a constructive direction, and an evolutionary correspondence is found for them. When the process is successful, the energy previously held by these fantasies is released, and watching porn loses its value. Addiction to TV series and films Of course, feature films have value. However, we are talking about addiction. If a wife pushes her husband away with the words: “Go away, I’ll finish watching the series,” which offends him, this is addiction. If a person is very upset by the departure of Netflix, thisaddiction. If a person cannot eat a bowl of soup without looking at the screen, this is an addiction. The integration of this addiction is a look at his own life: what is happening in it, what does a person turn a blind eye to, that someone else’s life and its plots are more dear to him? What can be changed in his real life so that he becomes interested in participating in it? Dependence on background noise A person turns on all possible sources of noise at home, in the car, in the country and even in the forest: a TV with its info channels, a radio with uninteresting chatter and advertising. A person may spit at what, in his opinion, stupid movie is being shown, but, nevertheless, he will not turn it off because he is afraid of silence. With this neurosis, he makes the life of his loved ones unbearable. I knew one person who turned on something in the apartment from 6 a.m. to midnight. His family was in a state of permanent neurosis. The radio could be turned on in the kitchen, and this person himself was in the bedroom, and he did not allow the radio to be turned off, because the background noise calmed him down. This condition requires neurosis therapy. If a person does not live alone, he risks destroying the mental health of his loved ones and relationships with them. Dependency on news In turbulent times like today, frequent viewing of the news is justified: you need to respond in a timely manner to an ever-changing situation. But there are people who, in peacetime, constantly need news, which is of little significance for making decisions on their activities. Of course, there are people interested in politics, and they are interested in what the heads of two states were talking about on the other side of the planet. However, it is enough to receive these news once a week to maintain the integrity of the information. However, these people are constantly in the news feeds: what’s new? This dependence is neutralized by questions in the style: “What does this news mean for your current affairs? Is the leader of one of the parties alive or no longer alive? What does this mean to you if you are not a member of this party and did not vote for it? What will this change specifically in your life?” A higher gradient of questions related to coaching looks like this: “What did you do to get written about in the news?” Questions like these bring a person back to reality, to ensure that a person’s life is filled with more pressing matters for him.. EMOTIONAL DEPENDENCE This is the name of dependence on a relationship with one person or another, when “I can’t live without him,” and this is not mutual. Such addiction causes serious suffering, including severe depression and suicide. This type of addiction requires separate consideration and special therapy, because simply saying “forget about him” is the same as telling an alcoholic: “Just stop drinking.” Overcoming emotional addiction requires identifying a person’s true needs, finding out which of these needs are affected in current relationships, and comprehensively filling a person’s life. This is quite radical work that takes time, but the reward for it can be the transformation of personality, the revelation of abilities and a change in the vector of events for the better. WORKAHOLISM This is another addiction that separates a person from reality. However, it is important to understand here that in a situation where a person basic material needs are not covered, working seven days a week and devoting almost all of one’s time to work, the desire to get two or three jobs, work more shifts per month, take on another order, perhaps night or urgent at a double rate - all this workaholism is not. This is a survival instinct. Therefore, do not rush to call a person a workaholic until you find out how he lives in reality. If a person works a lot, but is not a workaholic, this can be determined by one simple sign: as his financial situation improves, he works less, takes weekends, allows himself a vacation, filters orders, refuses unprofitable ones. The same applies to periods when a career requires extreme dedication, or a crisis situation inprofessional sphere. A workaholic works to work. Outside of his work, he does not receive recognition, his relationships do not go well, perhaps he has no friends, hobbies, or interests. He lives at work. On weekends he feels melancholy; January 1 and May 1 are the hardest days of the year for him; he does not go on vacation. Workaholism is one of the socially approved addictions. It's good that a person works! Look how well done he is! Lazy people rest, and in general people become limp on vacation. Perhaps this social approval is a positive reinforcement for a workaholic: look, what a great guy! But he’s not great at all! Health will crack from such a regime, relationships will be destroyed, satisfaction from professional achievements will give a short dopamine surge, after which the brain will ask: “More, more!” depended." Workaholism is a way to get love and approval. In therapy, we are looking for ways to receive them in a more constructive way, without exhausting ourselves, not for actions and results, but simply for the very fact of our existence. DEPENDENCE ON LEARNING AND TRAINING Learning is, of course, great when there is a training plan and goal. However, there are people who chaotically learn everything in a row and then do not apply the acquired skills anywhere. Two years ago, at the time of the online boom, many free courses appeared on a variety of topics. Obviously, this was a social program to relieve people's anxiety during the period of self-isolation. But why does a person need hairdressing courses if he does not intend to become a hairdresser? Why do we need tour guide courses if a person does not plan to become a guide, is he generally a deep introvert? Just because it's free? I know people who endlessly study to become a psychologist, but never start working. Even teachers directly tell them about this. A person here is controlled by the same circuit as in workaholism: another certificate posted online, likes, approval... “Mom, look at me, I got an A!” Therapy for this addiction is similar to therapy for workaholism . Love and approval should be received not for achievements, but just like that. SHOPAGOLISM It’s great if you bought yourself new comfortable and beautiful shoes, boots, handbag, suit and many other things that improve your appearance and space at home. Shopaholism is the thoughtless buying of everything in a row without awareness of what the thing is needed for, how and in what combination it will be worn: As a result, a lot of money is spent on unnecessary things, which then lie and will later be given to others. As a child, our parents and other relatives bought us things . And it was a holiday: we felt that we were loved. Now we also want to be loved. If this sensation is lacking, it is compensated by all available means, including the purchase of things. Look how much I bought! This means I am loved! I want this handbag! (and I will never go out with her). I want these earrings (and then they will remain in the box). I want this, I want that... I must honestly say: I want love! We cannot force anyone to compensate for our lack of love. But we ourselves can turn to our inner child and heal it. You can agree with him how you will pleasure yourself so that he feels loved. Inner child therapy can heal shopaholism and other addictions. DEPENDENCE ON YOUR OWN APPEARANCE Create an ideal body, stay in the rocking chair, look perfect, six-pack abs, grow eyelashes, pump up lips, perfect manicure, unequal battle for eternal youth... Then post it all in network, get likes, take a million selfies. Yes, it's called narcissism. However, this dependence is again based on a lack of love. If I look perfect, they love me, but if not, then they don’t. If you liked it - there is love, if you didn’t like it - no. This may cause a smile, but the desire to be liked at any cost provokes. +7-(987)-290-25-87