Process Addications

• Publication year: 2013
• Pages: 10
• Citation: Vol. 82 No. 2 Pg. 10

Process Addications No. 82 J. Kan. Bar Assn 2, 10 (2013) Kansas Bar Journal February, 2013

Process Addictions

By Anne McDonald, Kansas Lawyers Assistance Program, Topeka, Executive Director, mcdonalda@kscourts.org

What are they? How do they affect Kansas Lawyers? Why do I need to know about them, and why should I care?

Here's one definition from http://www.treatmentsolutions. com/process-addiction-treatment/.

"A process addiction refers to any compulsive behavior that involves an action that, on its own, is not physically addictive, such as shopping or sex. The lack of a physical addiction separates this condition from alcohol abuse and drug addiction.

The list of process addictions is wide-ranging and can include any day-to-day activity that has become overpowering and destructive in an individual's life. Common process addictions are sex addiction, compulsive gambling, Internet addiction, and shopping addiction."

One frequently used definition of an addiction is that it is an action that the person continues to engage in despite negative consequences. Probably the easiest example is still alcohol: a person drinks to excess, gets a DUI with all the attendant legal consequences and expense. And a year later, the person again drinks and drives and gets a second DUI. If that person then continues to drink to excess

and/or to drink and drive, despite experiencing negative consequences twice previously, there is a high probability that addiction is present. It may be early stage, middle, or even late stage addiction, but what differentiates stages is a topic for another day.

So, process addictions function similarly in that the behavior leads to negative consequences, yet the person continues to engage in it. Other characteristics common to process addictions are that they consume more and more of the person's time, attention, energy and resources. The person is often thinking about the last time they did it, or anticipating the next time, or going out of his or her way to be in a position to do it. Gradually, other activities, including work or time with family and friends, gets crowded out, both in the mind and in real time.

Gambling addiction is the only one of these behaviors that currently has its own DSM IV classification under "Impulse Control Disorders." But its characteristics are similar in some ways to the other behaviors so acquiring familiarity with them can, to some degree be used to assess the other...