If you’re unfamiliar with the subject, process addictions refer to certain behaviors. These include thoughts, feelings, activities, and relationships a person may use to survive an unhappy life. When people think about addictions, drug use and alcohol usually come to mind. Substances are easy to get addicted to. However, behaviors can also become addictive and destructive. With process addictions, it’s about brain chemistry. An activity that gives someone a rush can become habitual. Examples include sex, gambling, shopping, and work.
Many who come to Maui Recovery for help have several process addictions. Through our program, they learn that their negative relationships, thoughts, activities, and feelings are the manifestations of something deeper.
Think of pain as a tree trunk. The branches that stick out from that trunk are the “symptoms” of pain (workaholism, sex addiction, etc.). At Maui Recovery, we cut away at the branches using life coaching, group therapy, treatment programs, and individual therapy. Should any of those branches grow back, we work to get to the “roots” of a client’s pain and heal the tree for good. Tech Addiction
The Addiction of the 21st Century.
Obsession: The next view, click, or download
Compulsion: Playing video games, checking social media, watching YouTube, viewing porn, sending emails, and surfing the web. Video game playing, social media obsession, porn, and smartphone usage are more than just obsessions. These are now acknowledged as more than just obsessions. In some cases, they can be debilitating addictions and clinical disorders. These addictions have ruined people’s lives. A whole generation of “Failure to Launch” Millennials have seen their schooling, job prospects and/or interpersonal relationships suffer–or even destroyed–as a result of their screen or technology addiction.
Expert Treatment for Technology Addiction
Now there is a dedicated specialized program at Omega Recovery to effectively treat this issue.
Dr. Kardaras, our Co-CEO and Chief Clinical Officer, is considered one of the world’s leading experts on digital addiction (social media, video games, smart phones, etc.) and its treatment. He is the author of “Glow Kids” (St. Martin’s Press, 2016), the seminal book on the clinical, neurological and sociological aspects of digital/technology addiction and, over the past 10 years, he has clinically worked with hundreds of young people struggling with this issue. And now he has bought his years of expertise and developed the best evidence-based treatment protocols at Omega Recovery to address and treat the addiction of this millennium: technology addiction.
So many young people are struggling with this issue. Yet there are so few treatment options available for them. While countries like South Korea have over 400 Tech Addiction rehab facilities, the U.S. is behind. Here in the United States there are extremely limited options for meaningful treatment. Effective treatment options for Tech Addiction are scarce in America.
With social media so prevalent today, many sufferers struggle to differentiate the online world from the real world. The Internet offers an escape from the pain, stress, and loneliness in their lives. It’s a place that provides comfort and entertainment. Going offline is unthinkable. At Omega Recovery, we strive to help clients heal. By focusing on the sources of the anxiety and unhappiness, we’re able to teach them that they can walk away from bad habits. They don’t need the addictive glow of the screen to feel whole.
