“If we never recognize our anxiety causing addictions, we’ll never feel better long term.”
When many of us think about the term ‘addictions’ we think of behavioural patterns that we consciously can recognize. But what about the ones we unconsciously make into habit? The anxiety causing addictions that I’ll talk about in todays episode of the anxiety guy podcast will open your eyes to the very components that are adding to your emotional distress.
4 out of 5 of these anxiety causing addictions were regular habits in my own life!
They messed with the filters in my brain that kept me perceiving myself in a limiting manner, and perceiving the world in a dangerous one. These brain filters are everything, because the brain will certainly distort, generalize, and delete information to keep you in line with what’s become habit. Habit is how the brain knows what direction to go next, remember that.
Can anxiety causing addictions be altered?
You already know the answer to this I’m sure, yes. And there is plenty of proof that supports the idea that the brain is very much plastic, and can alter its associations. In order for this podcast to be valuable to you though, you must approach it with an open mind, and end the denial that has put you in this place. Next to denial is justification as to why we do what we do, and many times we become so good at convincing ourselves as to why it’s a good idea to maintain these anxiety causing addictions, even if inner peace is right around the corner.
Listen to the episode on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, TuneIn, Castbox, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Subscribe for the update & watch the episode through the YouTube channel (comes out every Friday).
As a mental health professional, I’m all too familiar with the fact that anxiety and addiction are (unfortunately) really good friends. Dennis does a great job of defining addiction beyond substance abuse. As usual, he offers a great illustration of how symptoms and inner dialogues are actually messages we can use to increase self-awareness and start to recognize the role that worry and anxiety play in our lives (albeit poorly). The examples of behavioral and cognitive addictions- and how we use them to prop up a maladaptive sense of identity- are fantastic, and he challenges his listeners to be more open and fluid about acceptance, redefining oneself, and taking ownership of our thoughts.
The last bit is crucial, taking ownership of your thinking, thank you.
One of the anxiety causing addictions that I definitely was able to recognize in my life is social media. Looking at it every day and see what other people are doing sometimes makes you feel less worthy and that you’re not putting on the best image on social media. I was able to recognize that caused me anxiety looking on there and I’ve decided to take a break from social media and not spend as much time on my phone. I definitely can tell a difference now that I’ve stopped doing that and I know that I do need to work on other things in my life still. I really enjoyed your podcast and can’t wait to listen to more!