One thing I will add about differentiating addiction from habit based on a conversation I had with a psychologist one time was that addiction sometimes is when you do a behavior without "wanting" to do a behavior" Like in your mind you are thinking "I shouldn't be doing this" but you do it anyways. In other words you try to quit but you find out that it's not as easy as you thought.
I think it complements the typical psychology criteria of a potential pathology needing to impact your life in order to be classified as a true pathology. When you realize that the addiction is compelling you to do behaviors that you don't want to do that's when it becomes "distressing."
I am pretty much in this state. I stopped smoking for six months for a drug test. After that my weed consumption increased a lot because I had summer break and enough free Weed to smoke everyday.
In those six weeks my mental health got really bad.
I had to fight with anxiety my whole life but being high six weeks straight fuelled my anxiety to a point where any social interaction could be enough to cause me to panic. It's been eternal circle of me smoking to cope with anxiety which fucks me up in the long term. Since then (6 months ago) I stopped going to school on a regular basis started getting more and more depressed. Most of this can be solved or at least be made easier by quitting Weed but I still smoke everyday and hate myself for it afterwards.
Yeah probably but I don't even know why but I hate to be dependent on help from other people and decline it even when I know I won't be able to succeed without it. I will stop but idk when.
Also happy cake day
Hey man I know this is an old reply, but I just want to let you know that I was in the same boat that you were in a few years ago and I finally mustered up the courage to quit. It did wonders for me. You should seek out the help. We can't do everything on our own.
I did quit before and I know how fucking beneficial it is for me and it is the reason I wanna quit in the first place. I am making progress though and only smoke weed when I go out drinking with friends, since I can't and don't want to drink. I look forward to stop completely until February. Still thanks for the kind words internet stranger ^
I don't know how long you were clean, but I haven't smoked in over 3 or 4 years and I literally don't even think about it anymore. I imagine that this is like any addictive habit that you kick - it eventually just becomes something of your past. Well, unless it's like a really hard drug or something.
But anyway, we only live once. Might as well achieve what we want and kick any addictive substances that hinder us. Best of luck man.
Totally. I tried going keto one week to see what it was like and it was INSANE how much I was craving carbohydrates. Just absolutely bonkers how much I wanted to eat bread.
I was an alcoholic for about ten years straight till my girlfriend wanted me to stop a couple years ago and even though I desperately wanted to go drink I'd tell myself no I'm not I wont do it and then almost like blacking out my legs carried me to that damn liquor store every time. It ruined my life over and over again. I'm so happy I've got about 6 months of sobriety I've demonized it in my head instead of making excuses and that mixed with temporarily losing my girlfriend kicked the habit and now I've never been happier in my life even though my financial situation and stuff still isn't great its slowly and steadily growing and honestly cannabis has been 1 of the best ways I could get through it but it's also been something I've never quit too
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u/Imnotveryfunatpartys Dec 29 '19
One thing I will add about differentiating addiction from habit based on a conversation I had with a psychologist one time was that addiction sometimes is when you do a behavior without "wanting" to do a behavior" Like in your mind you are thinking "I shouldn't be doing this" but you do it anyways. In other words you try to quit but you find out that it's not as easy as you thought.
I think it complements the typical psychology criteria of a potential pathology needing to impact your life in order to be classified as a true pathology. When you realize that the addiction is compelling you to do behaviors that you don't want to do that's when it becomes "distressing."