Addictive relationships can be characterized by an obsessive focus on the partner, while neglecting one's own needs. These relationships are “addictive” in the sense that there is an imperative need to connect and stay connected to a particular person. Relationship addiction is characterized by cravings and loss of control when it comes to having a relationship with a specific person. Like love addicts, people with relationship addiction seek feelings of euphoria and gain intense chemical reactions and releases as they seek or are in a relationship. Although relationship addiction is not recognized as an official diagnosis, mental health experts and existing research generally agree on some key signs that suggest a cause for concern.
As a relationship deteriorates due to drug and alcohol abuse, anger and violence often come up as concerns. Frustrations are high, even more so if someone is using a substance that is known to cause aggression. These situations become dangerous quite quickly. Although most couples don't show all of these danger signs, if any of these are present in your marriage or relationship, it indicates that it may be time for you to take stock of the relationship and think about improving it. That is likely to mean that alcohol and drug use will have to be stopped and that problems in the relationship will need to be identified and addressed.
If you or your partner are showing signs of having a drug or alcohol problem and there are problems in the relationship, it's common to expect these things to work out on their own over time. The best thing to do is to get treatment as soon as possible, or at least call and ask about treatments that may be available to you. If you don't, it's very likely that the problems will get worse. When you have a relationship addiction, it means you can't function without a romantic relationship. If one is not in a relationship, and often feels incomplete or has difficulty functioning normally, then that can be a sign of relationship addiction.
The person at the center of the fight is called a “love addict”.Love addicts often require psychotherapy to treat love addiction. People who deal with gambling, substances, or other addictions are rarely able to quit on their own. The same is true for a love addict who needs treatment for love addiction. An addictive relationship has the same stamp as any other addiction.
It is an increasingly unstable experience, in which you start to lose sight of who you are and stop taking care of yourself in favor of what you are addicted to, in this case, to another person and the way you relate to each other. Drug addiction affects all spheres of life, including relationships. Addiction makes it difficult to maintain trust, respect and open communication, critical elements in a healthy relationship. When a person is addicted to a substance, their life revolves around obtaining and using the drug. This can lead to neglecting the responsibilities or needs of your partner.
As a result, your partner will feel hurt, angry and betrayed. Drug addiction can have devastating effects on relationships in many different ways. For example, to a love addict, love may seem not to eat, sleep or take good care of themselves. Couples in relationships with addicts may lose trust in their partners as lies deepen and become more intricate. But if you're constantly talking about the relationship rather than your lives and interests, and if conflict and drama seem to happen almost every time you're together, there's a good chance your relationship is addictive. Elements such as hope and illusions, combined with the thrill of persecution or the release of dopamine, can become addictive for some.
For example, according to the American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM), substance abuse has been found to occur in 40 to 60 percent of incidents of intimate partner violence (IPV).If you feel like you have to force someone to fall in love (or stay in love) with you, this is a sign that you need treatment and support for love addiction. Since there may be other problems underneath relationship addiction, it is important to get to the root so that the individual in question can form healthy bonds. Over-the-counter use of erectile dysfunction medications has also been linked to other types of drug abuse in drug addicts. As with other types of addiction, addiction-like behaviors around relationships result from a complex interaction of factors. If an addicted person never has to face the consequences of their addiction, they may not realize that they need help. Although this is not always the case, codependency is usually part of a relationship with an addicted person.
It is not uncommon for an addicted person to have secret behavior and lie about drug use. Interestingly, even if the addict has no life outside of the relationship, he feels very lonely despite being in a relationship. One of the findings which focuses on addiction and relationships in drug addicts and which was published in the Sexual Medicine's Journal revealed that prolonged use of alcohol, heroin and cocaine affected sexual climax; the former being the substance that has the most significant impact on a man's ability to achieve an erection. As a result, people with love addiction will jump from one relationship to another for reasons that don't make sense to themselves or for others observing their relationships.
