Addictions and the Internet
One of the most frustrating parts of living with someone with PTSD or having PTSD yourself is the obvious or sometimes not so obvious addictions or patterns of behavior that can become a destructive part of your life. Sometimes the person suffering from PTSD turns to legal or illegal drugs or alcohol in order to find relief from some of their PTSD symptoms. Other times they turn to behaviors that are not talked about as much yet are often sought out by PTSD sufferers because of the distraction and short lived relief it may provide for PTSD symptoms.
Many of these behaviors or online hobbies may at first appear harmless, but many times they soon becomes an addition. PTSD sufferers struggling with numbness or other problems in their life most likely are not aware that these same things that are making them "feel good" at the same time are self destructive and are just a short term "negative" fix to a more complex issue.
For example, most people think about drugs or alcohol when the word "addiction" is used. Addiction can be substance or behavioral.
Other addictive behaviors can include but are not limited to:
work, exercise, gaming (Xbox or Playstation) , sex, pornography, reading, gambling, eating, high risk sports, relationships....even good healthy things can become addictive if the person is using it to avoid, escape or isolate and begins to hide aspects of it or make excuses, or unable to stop without feeling irritable, "antsy or anxious", "that gotta have it feeling"
On top of PTSD stressors and the inability to cope with added everyday stress these new "hobbies" soon become another issue for PTSD sufferers and their loved ones. Continued and repeated use of these negative coping skills and inappropriate behaviors eventually adds even more problems to an already overloaded coping system and in the vast majority of cases completely destroys a marriage or relationship that has already been slowly eroding due to the PTSD.
Addiction does not just happen over night. It is a slow process that usually needs secrecy in order to florish. One behavior with some PTSD sufferers that is often hidden and not easy to talk about or address is the way that the internet can easily allow for a negative means of escape for PTSD sufferers. In addition many good marriages and relationships find themselves not only dealing just with the PTSD symptoms but suddenly hidden behaviors, relationships or short lived affairs that have now turned into an addiction.
Using the Internet as a means of escape happens more frequently then many people realize yet there is very little information as to why it is most often used as a way of coping for PTSD sufferers. Because it is not as stigmatized as other addictive behaviors it is sometimes missed when dealing with couples having relationship issues on top of PTSD.
Understanding that Internet addiction is a behavioral addiction and not a substance addiction and is not necessarily regarded with the same amount of seriousness as a substance addiction. Because of the previously held belief that only a foreign substance could create chemical changes and dependencies in the brain, substance addiction has been considered far more harmful than behavioral addictions. However, both substance and behavioral addictions have the power to create behavioral, neurobiological and psychological changes in the individual, making all types of addictions detrimental. When an individual is occupied with repetitive activity, such as Internet surfing, a dopamine reaction begins to occur in the brain. Dopamine, a chemical produced in the body, affects brain processes that control movement, emotional response, and ability to experience pleasure and pain.
As the individual uses the Internet, a certain level of dopamine will allow them to experience pleasure and arousal. As the individual builds up a resistance to the chemical, they need greater amounts of time for the activity to get the same high. The Internet affords its users the same experiences that more tangible addictions, such as substance abuse, can provide.These experiences can include feelings of euphoria and escapism, withdrawal from the outside world, and increasing interpersonal conflict due to the users heightened levels of anxiety or depression. However, it is important to differentiate between the distinctive subtypes of the “Internet addiction” label.
- Cyber sexual addictions: compulsive use of adult websites for sexual gratification and internet pornography
- Internet-relationship addictions: Over-involvement in online relationships, chat rooms, relationships sustained via email
- Net compulsions: Over usage or obsessive online gambling, shopping or day-trading
- Information overload: compulsive web surfing or database searches
- Computer addiction: obsessive computer game playing (e.g., Sims, Doom, Solitaire)
Why are we posting this information? Because not only has this problem affected our own family, in talking with many families like our own who are dealing with PTSD, this dirty little secret appears to be allot more common then one may think. If you see yourself in any of this, please know this, you are not alone. Recognizing and admitting you "might" have a problem is the first step to getting help. Remember addiction whether alcohol, drug, gambling, or the internet all have the same effect and result.
