Addiction Psychology - How To Break That Bad Habit

Addiction Psychology - How To Break That Bad Habit

Bad habits are known to be difficult to break - even harder if they are addictive.

Although bad habits do not turn into addiction, many - if not most - addicts begin to appear as innocent bad habits.

So why do bad habits and addiction so hard to break?

To understand why, it is important to know how to form these habits and addiction in the first place. When you understand how bad habits work, you understand the things you can do to turn your life in the other direction.

Habit ring - how we shape habits

Habits are complex psychological issues, mainly because each person is different.

However, science and research have found that all habits form and develop in a similar way.

In his book "The Power of Habit," Charles Dohig wrote that researchers at MIT found a simple nerve ring behind the habit. This is called a habit ring. This episode consists of three main parts: cue, routine and reward.

Cue is something that triggers an activity or activity. This can be anything and this depends entirely on the person. It can smell a certain smell, hear a certain sound, see a particular item, or even experience intense emotion.

The routine is the action or behavior that you do in response to the signal. This is the work you develop into a habit.

The reward is the positive feeling or reinforcement you get or experience as a result of performing the procedure in the routine. This positive feeling - no matter how small or temporary - makes your mind relate it to your routine and Cue action. When you get this reward enough times during the process, your mind begins to passion and look for it, thus strengthening the loop.

Let's take an example: Suppose you like eating a chocolate bar every evening at work.

Cue can be a certain time of day that triggers the habit, say snack break 3:00 pm. Your routine can go to your office store, where he picks up a bar of chocolate and eats it during a 15-minute break. The reward is the sweetness of the chocolate and the temporary height you get from it. When you do this enough times, it can develop into a habit that makes you yearn for it every evening around 3:00 pm, even on days when you're not in the office.

Why is it difficult to break the habit?

Habit rings are difficult to break for two main reasons:

 

1. They reinforce themselves.
2. They become more automatic the more you do.

Habit rings are self-reinforcing rings, where each component feeds on the other. We associate the reward with red tape and red tape with cue. The positive emotions we get from Reward make us look for or crave Cue over time, pushing the whole loop deep into your system.

When enough times are done and with sufficient reinforcement, the Habit ring becomes automatic. We ended up spending less energy and we thought about doing it so it feels like the norm. That's why bad habits are hard to break - because they feel they are simply what we do. In such cases, the habit has become so ingrained in our behavior that it does not seem abnormal or, in the worst and most ridiculous case, not good for us.

Why is it more difficult to break the addiction

At this stage, it is important to note that bad habits and addiction are quite different.

Habits are scientific behaviors we develop to achieve a goal or a feeling. In the case of bad habits, cravings for growth are often satisfied.

Addiction, as defined by the Australian Department of Health, is the physical or psychological need to do something, although it is harmful to you.

Addiction is more difficult to break than bad habits because it is inherent in our system and has deeper physical and psychological roots. Thus it requires more time, effort and planning to break.

In fact, many forms of addiction require professional guidance for effective fracture, and require careful counseling, treatment, monitoring and planning.

It can be difficult, but change is possible - get help from professionals

Although breaking bad habits and addiction is difficult, it is not impossible.

With the right help and coping techniques, breaking these harmful patterns of behavior is not possible, but also possible.

By identifying and understanding the components of your habit loop, you can experiment and manipulate different factors to achieve different and better results.

The other good thing about Habit Loops is that they also work in both directions - you can use them to create good habits and positive behaviors.

Source URL : Psychologist North Brisbane