Almost all addictions are unhealthy ways of coping with difficult emotions, stress, and/or unprocessed trauma.
Be it online shopping or alcoholism, the unconscious goal is always to self-soothe, self-medicate, and self-distract from the real issue, the real emotions.
Addiction can also be a desperate attempt to soothe an overloaded nervous system. Unprocessed trauma and ongoing stress can really overload our coping skills!
To put it very briefly and simply - as you're looking for a tip and not a whole essay! - overcoming addiction comes from (1) Learning to acknowledge, express, and regulate difficult / negative emotions in a healthy way, (2) Learning nervous system regulation skills (practicing deep breathing when you feel anxious, for example, instead of grabbing a drink), and (3) Improving / changing your environment in such a way so that engaging in your addiction becomes extremely difficult, unpleasant, unacceptable, inappropriate, etc. But more on that later in another post!
Be it online shopping or alcoholism, the unconscious goal is always to self-soothe, self-medicate, and self-distract from the real issue, the real emotions.
Addiction can also be a desperate attempt to soothe an overloaded nervous system. Unprocessed trauma and ongoing stress can really overload our coping skills!
To put it very briefly and simply - as you're looking for a tip and not a whole essay! - overcoming addiction comes from (1) Learning to acknowledge, express, and regulate difficult / negative emotions in a healthy way, (2) Learning nervous system regulation skills (practicing deep breathing when you feel anxious, for example, instead of grabbing a drink), and (3) Improving / changing your environment in such a way so that engaging in your addiction becomes extremely difficult, unpleasant, unacceptable, inappropriate, etc. But more on that later in another post!
