Published on August 15, 2012 by Jennifer Kunst, Ph.D. in A Headshrinker's Guide to the Galaxy
Using an addiction to deal with upset feelings creates the very problems it was intended to solve. Addictions backfire. The painful feelings that were to be avoided actually increase a thousand-fold. The deeper you get into it, the MORE you feel depressed, anxious, angry, and hopeless, not less. You LOSE control rather than gain it. In order to break the addiction, you must come to see that it does not deliver what it promises. If you can see it for what it really is rather than what you imagine it to be, then you have the chance to let it go.
