Strange Addictions You’ve Probably Never Considered

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Addiction to powerful stimuli can interfere with a person’s normal life and prohibit the healthy growth and development they need to thrive. Addiction is a heavy toll for people to pay, so researchers spend a lot of time and resources into understanding addiction and addictive behavior better. Addiction is a brain disorder where a person repeatedly seeks out a substance or behavior and is somehow rewarded by it, thereby reinforcing the behavior. Children, teens and adults can all be victims of addiction.

While most people are familiar with drug and alcohol addiction, and also behavioral addictions like gambling, sex or eating, there are some unusual addictions that may be hard for some people to believe. Unusual compulsions and addictions are no laughing matter, even if the focus of the victim’s addiction is odd, silly or outrageous.

Here are 7 compulsions and addictions that are completely legitimate yet rare:

1. Consuming Dirt

Known as geophagia, this addiction to eating soil, rocks, and sand is more common in poverty-stricken areas of the globe.

2. Eating Non-Food Items

When someone has the uncontrollable desire to eat non-food items like buttons, coins, fabric scraps and more, it is known as pica. It becomes especially dangerous when items like nails, glass and rocks are consumed.

3. Drinking Blood

The obsession with drinking human or animal blood is called Renfield’s syndrome and often manifests with other mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

4. Playing Video Games

There are several documented cases of video game players dying of exhaustion after neglecting basic hygiene, nutrition and sleep in exchange for many days of playing.

5. Modifying the Body

Piercings and tattoos can beautify and horrify, but for those addicted to body modification, the transformations can cover the entire body and include eyeballs, tongues and genitals. Plastic surgery addiction and tanning addictions are another growing body modification obsessions.

6. Exercising Extremes

Secondary exercise dependency means that people constantly seek out the biological high that working out provides. This compulsive behavior can interfere with normal life. Primary exercise dependency is often paired with poor body image and the need to control how one looks at all times.

7. Obsessing About Religion

Known as scrupulosity, this obsessive-compulsive disorder manifests as the need to perform religious rituals or behaviors repeatedly either to avoid sin or because of the spiritual high. They focus on the detailed and nuanced tasks required of their religion above everything else.

Every addiction involves distorted thinking, obsessive behavior and a mixture of emotions. It’s difficult for addicts to live a normal life and the best thing that friends and family can do is to help them get professional therapy to overcome their challenges.

Tyler Jacobson is a freelance writer, with past experience in content writing and outreach for parent and teen advocate organizations. His areas of focus include: parenting, education, social media, addiction, and issues facing teenagers today. Follow Tyler on: Twitter | Linkedin

Tyler Jacobson
Tyler Jacobson is a freelance writer, with past experience in content writing and outreach for parent and teen advocate organizations. His areas of focus include: parenting, education, social media, addiction, and issues facing teenagers today. Follow Tyler on: Twitter | Linkedin | Google +