Addiction changes your thoughts

In therapy, you’re probably going to have very in depth conversations about how your thoughts patterns, the content of your thoughts, how useful they are, and how we can relate differently to them. For most people, the process of thinking is a type of internal dialog in their mind. We notice this most when we are trying to figure out if how to proceed with a decision.

For those who are not struggling with addiction, we take for granted that most of our thoughts are aligned with our longer term goals. For example, if you had a phone bill that you had to pay but in order to pay it you had to give up a night out. You’re likely to weigh up the short and long term consequences effectively and make a decision. Odds are, you’ll end up deciding to pay your bill and forgoing your night out. This decision is aligned with your long term goals to avoid any late fees, keep your phone service going and avoid any penalties to your credit rating. Your future self really benefits from taking a long-term view (or “a big picture” mindset).

For those who struggle with long term addiction, this decision may not as instinctively easy as it may have been in the past. Short term gains are considered more important than long term gains, and hence small decisions that benefit our present self are chosen over ones that benefit our future self. Do this often enough, this pattern becomes automatic and feels almost instinctual. When we’re on autopilot, it’s easy to feel stuck. It’s also why those in recovery have to look out for risky situations and relapse. If you find yourself repeatedly stuck, that’s when taking to a psychologist can help. It’s part of the reason why recovery and overcoming addiction feels like a struggle. Breaking strong thought and behavioural patterns isn’t easy, and why should it be, you’ve spent years building them!

Source: Adrian Swancar, Unsplash

There’s a moment in therapy where I ask,

“When did you start thinking this way?”

Then we both try to find the point in time in their life where this type of thinking started to dominate. Some clients make the connection that some are their current thoughts aren’t really generated intentionally but as a result of their patterns. Sometimes their thoughts come after the habitual actions, as a way to make sense of what they did. It’s quite a revelation, when we realise that some of our desires are a result of the evolution of our unhelpful and addictive habits. This has some implications, because the reality is, breaking and forming new patterns will feel difficult. It takes lots of deliberate and thoughtful efforts to skilfully break addictive patterns and form new ones. However, just imagine having your new thought and behaviours patterns in line with your meaningful life goals, that’s something worthwhile to aim for.