Behavioural Addiction Coaching

Feeling Trapped by Habits

You don’t just “choose” to get hooked on gambling, porn, gaming, or work. These behaviours interfere with your brain’s reward system so hard it can feel impossible to stop, even when things around you are falling apart.

Maybe you’re trying to quit or cut back but keep finding yourself right back where you started. You feel restless, anxious, maybe even ashamed. The pull is relentless.

You’re not weak or broken. You’re stuck in a cycle that hijacks your brain and emotions known as a behavioural addiction.

Behavioural addictions refer to the compulsive behaviours that someone struggles to control, even when they know those behaviours are causing harm.

• Gambling addiction: Betting money becomes an obsession, even when it leads to financial ruin.
• Sex or pornography addiction: Using sexual activity or porn compulsively to escape or feel good.
• Internet/gaming addiction: Getting so hooked on online activities or video games that it interferes with real-life responsibilities.
• Shopping addiction: Spending compulsively to feel a temporary emotional high, often followed by guilt or regret.
• Food addiction: Overeating (or binge eating) compulsively, not because you’re hungry but because it provides comfort or escape.
• Work addiction (workaholism): Being unable to stop overworking, often at the expense of relationships and health.
• Exercise addiction: Exercising to an extreme degree, sometimes to the point of injury or health problems.

Just like drugs or alcohol, these behaviours hijack the brain’s reward system, creating a high that can lead to a cycle of:

• Tolerance (you need more)
• Withdrawal and negative affect (you feel shitty without it)
• Salience/craving (uncontrollable urges to do it now to feel better); and
• Relapse (you are doing it again)

STRAIGHT EDGE can help you:

• Understand what’s driving your compulsions
• Develop strategies that actually fit your life
• Build strength to face cravings head-on
• Reclaim control over your choices

It’s not easy. But with someone who’s walked this path beside you, it gets possible. Reach out today and take the first step toward reclaiming your life.

Signs of a Behavioural Addiction

Here’s how you might recognize a behavioural addiction:

• You feel a strong urge or craving to do the activity.
• You’ve tried to stop (or cut back) but can’t.
• You spend more time, energy, or money on the behaviour than you mean to.
• It’s causing problems (at work, at home, in your relationships) but you keep doing it anyway.
• You feel anxious, irritable, or restless when you’re not doing it.
• You use the behaviour as a way to escape stress, anxiety, or pain.

Our person-centred coaching helps break destructive patterns and encourages healthier choices that support the individual's journey to achieve their self-identified wellness goals.

Who We Help