Process addiction is when someone begins to repeat certain behavioral habits that they cannot get out of and this becomes a vicious cycle. This is typically used to describe situations in which the addiction is detrimental to the person’s health or overall well-being in life. These habits could be a shopping addiction, gambling addiction, smartphone addiction, etc. These addictions can sometimes be tough to pin point, because if Jeff Bezos (the creator and owner of Amazon) goes on a shopping spree with his 120 billion dollars, it has a much lesser impact than if one of your friends goes on a spree with a credit card and puts themselves in debt for it. When does a hobby cross from fun activity to a dangerous and debilitating addiction? Is going to the casino twice a week regimentally an addiction or is it when they go four times a week and lose every time? This is why process addiction can be one of the tougher addictions to tackle as there can sometimes be a very fine line. However, with any addiction, it is always best to err on the side of caution and make sure the person you love or care about is not becoming a cog in the vicious cycle of process addiction.

Who is most susceptible to process addiction?

There are a few types of people who are a lot more susceptible to these types of addictions than others. Typically someone with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) would be much more likely to become obsessed with a certain activity and get sucked into repetitive behavioral habits than others. However, process addiction can happen to anyone and it is imperative that friends and family members understand what it is and the best way to handle it.

Why is important to understand process addiction?

I believe process addiction is one of the most discrete types of addictions there can be. This means that it is not easy to spot or uncover and therefore is more important that someone can notice it to be able to put a stop to it. Something like alcohol or drug addiction is easy to notice: being drunk every night, or high way too
often, are very obvious signs someone has a substance abuse problem. But when someone has a shopping addiction, this is much tougher to point out and then handle. What constitutes a shopping addiction? What level of shopping is ok that it doesn’t constitute an addiction and is just leisurely shopping once in a while? What type of buying is a necessity rather than an addictive type of buying? These are all the tough questions people have to face when dealing with discrete process addictions and not other more obvious additions like alcohol addiction.When someone has an addiction, it can be described as having repetitive behavioral habits that are created when the sense of the reward or excitement leaves and then not having enough self-control to stop the urge to do it again. A person getting into credit card debt or gaining weight, or someone that has a chance of drug overdose, are all practicing habits that are terrible for them. If someone was addicted to work and making money for his family, I can’t say that is a terrible attribute. I think becoming obsessed with an idea is how great people become so successful. But if that is channeled in the wrong manner, it can be a very dangerous character trait to have.  

What to do about process addiction

If you find out someone you know is suffering from process addiction, then it’s best to take action and speak out about it. Leaving the situation unhandled for too long may only make it worse and the person could have reached a point where it is really tough to get back to a normal way of life. Once confronting them, it’s best to start to seek steps to handle their process addiction and tackle their behavioral habits that they are suffering from. It varies from case to case as each addiction is unique so it’s hard to have one single answer for all the types of process addiction there could be. Definitely make sure to monitor them when you can and try to give them other more beneficial tasks to focus on. From here, the addiction will hopefully slow if they are forced to change in the beginning. Never be afraid to seek help if the problem gets way out of hand also. Addiction is dangerous and should not be taken lightly!