When people think of addiction their minds will usually turn to substance abuse issues: most notably alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. While those are indeed the most common types, there are many other addictions which are just as aggravating and life-wrecking, often requiring therapy within drug rehab centers. We humans can develop addiction issues towards just about any substance, as well as other more intangible things: such as lying and shopping. Read through this article and be surprised.

Video Games

Playing video games is great fun, and it can improve your hand-eye coordination. But if you take it too far, it may turn into a serious problem. In the recent years, there have been reports of people dying from video game addiction: first they stop going out, eventually they stop eating properly, and soon enough they will forget to drink and eat altogether, and they spend hundreds of hours straight in various game worlds… until eventually their bodies will collapse. Granted, it’s very rare for this extreme scenario to happen, but it’s fairly common for people to neglect their responsibilities because they spend too much time playing games.

Body Modifications

From tattoos to piercings, including plastic surgeries: there are many people who are never happy with who they are, and they keep looking for ways to improve on their image. Sometimes, they will get so caught up in this reasoning that an addiction may surface… and they are unable to stop, until eventually it becomes more than just aesthetic preference and escalates into unstoppable mania.

Shopping

This is probably one of the most commonly undetected addictions in the modern world. For many, shopping may turn into more than a casual activity, and become a compulsion. People will buy things they want, things they need, things they don’t need, things they can’t afford… as though shopping will help them patch a nameless hole at the core of their being. Obviously that never really happens, and these people just end up caught up in another hole: credit card hell. Very much like alcohol addiction rehab, overcoming addiction to shopping may require doing rehab.

Eating Non-Edibles

From eating dirt to chewing ice, or something more conventional such as chewing gum, there are a surprising number of people out there who get addicted to masticating and even swallowing non-edibles such as nails or even pennies. This may sound like a bizarre compulsion, but then again… to each his own. Unfortunately, it seldom leads to a positive outcome, very much like any other addiction.

Lying

As social beings, all humans lie every now and then… its’ part of who we are. From small white lies to big hairy lies, we all stomp on the truth every now and then, right? But for some unfortunate folks, this tendency can escalate into a compulsion – and they will lie about just about everything, sometimes going so far that they can no longer tell fact from fiction.

Sugar

This is arguably the most widespread, unnoticed addiction of modern societies. Millions of people in our societies have a borderline addiction for sugar, and they don’t even notice! If you start paying close attention to it, you’ll notice that sugar is absolutely ubiquitous, and many of us actually crave it and even develop withdrawal symptoms if for some reason are unable to get a daily fix.

Inhalants

Here’s another type of addiction that goes unnoticed even though it affects people from all walks of life. Whether it’s glue, sprays, solvents or any other materials, many get caught up in a compulsion to inhale chemicals that can lead to dire health problems in a short time. And since these materials are widespread and legal, it’s not always obvious for family and friends to pick up on such deviant behaviors.

Hoarding

For many unnamed addicts, the drug of choice can be just about any object. People suffering from hoarding disorders will refuse to throw anything away, sometimes even trivial things such as empty cardboards and food packaging that others wouldn’t hesitate to dismiss as garbage. When this kind of issue gets out of hand, the victims can literally stuff their homes with garbage until there is barely any free space to move around.

Prescription medicine

In our modern societies, we’ve gotten a little too dependent on prescription medicines, to the point where it can become an addiction. There are millions of people who simply can’t live without their prescription drugs – whether it’s anti-depressives , mood enhancers or even common medicines like cough medicine or aspirins. With behaviors quite analogous to those of manifested by illicit drug addicts, prescription drug addicts will often fail to realize they have a problem, their reasoning being: since my doctor prescribed this, it’s a medicine not a drug.

When most of us think of overcoming addiction problems, we tend to think of alcohol addiction rehab or similar centers. Truth of the matter is that addiction can take many forms, and it can hinge of many substances or even non-substances. If you want to see more information about recovery programs for the different kinds of addictions prevalent in modern society, Check it out here. And remember, the first step to overcoming any problem is to admit there is a problem.