Personalised treatment for behavioural addictions

Behavioural addictions can affect relationships, emotional wellbeing and the wider experience of daily life. At Pathways, tailored multidisciplinary care helps you explore the underlying patterns, regain a sense of control and work towards lasting change.

Our approach is pragmatic and individualised. The programme developed with you offers tools and therapeutic support to establish moderation, boundaries and greater peace, while considering your biological, psychological and physical needs.

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What are behavioural addictions?

UNDERSTANDING PROCESS ADDICTIONS

Behavioural addictions are also called process addictions. They involve becoming dependent on, and craving, a particular behaviour or set of behaviours.

The term process addiction describes dependence on an activity or sequence of actions, rather than on a substance. The behaviour can become increasingly difficult to control, even when its effects on everyday life are harmful.

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Recognising the signs of behavioural addiction

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

The symptoms, underlying difficulties and harm associated with behavioural addictions can resemble those experienced with substance-related addictions. Signs may include:

  • Spending excessive time on the behaviour at the expense of relationships or work.
  • Relying on the activity to manage emotions or feel normal.
  • Finding it difficult to stop despite repeated attempts.
  • Minimising the problem, concealing it or lying about it to loved ones.
  • Experiencing withdrawal-like difficulties when trying to stop, such as depression, sleep problems, irritability or changes in personality.
  • Losing control over how often you engage in the behaviour or the risks you take.
  • Continuing the activity even when it no longer provides pleasure, with particular triggers developing around the behaviour.

If these experiences sound familiar, an assessment can help you understand the pattern and explore an appropriate pathway towards recovery.

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Types of behavioural addictions we support

Pain is a shared human experience, but the pathway to recovery needs to be personal.

If gambling is taking increasing time or affecting relationships and work, assessment can help you explore the pattern and discuss boundaries and appropriate support.

Concerns about cryptocurrency-related activity can be explored in terms of control, time spent, emotional reliance and its impact on everyday life.

Assessment provides space to discuss patterns involving sex or love, their effects on relationships and wellbeing, and the changes you want to make.

Support considers your relationship with social media, including time spent, emotional reliance, difficulty reducing use and its impact on daily life.

If the pursuit of adrenaline involves increasing risks or feels difficult to control, assessment can help explore the pattern and its underlying contributors.

Gaming-related concerns can be explored through their effects on relationships, work, emotional wellbeing and your ability to choose when to stop.

Assessment considers patterns involving pornography, including emotional reliance, concealment, difficulty stopping and the effects on relationships or wellbeing.

Concerns involving exercise are considered in relation to control, emotional reliance, boundaries and their impact on the wider balance of your life.

If work has become difficult to step away from despite its effects on relationships or wellbeing, support can help you explore moderation and boundaries.

Assessment can help explore shopping patterns that feel hard to control, the emotions associated with them and their consequences in everyday life.

Support offers space to explore relationship patterns described as codependency, their emotional effects, and the boundaries and changes you want to develop.

If your concern is not listed, contact Pathways to discuss an assessment. The focus is on understanding your individual pattern and appropriate care.

How we treat behavioural addictions

Each person’s experience of behavioural addiction is different. At Pathways, the programme is developed around your needs rather than following a predetermined pathway. We take a pragmatic approach, considering the treatment that can best support your particular goals instead of requiring everyone to follow a single model.

Each day is structured around selected therapeutic elements. Support for the distress that may accompany reducing a behaviour is brought together with intensive therapy. The elements complement one another, helping you work towards greater control, improved health and the gradual rebuilding of everyday life.

Your individual needs guide how clinical treatment and holistic care are combined. Our 360-degree approach considers psychological, cellular and biological wellbeing alongside the circumstances that may have contributed to dependency.

Comprehensive assessment and clinically appropriate testing help explore underlying difficulties and the factors maintaining the pattern. These findings inform an individualised plan, supporting work to understand and process those difficulties rather than focusing solely on the behaviour itself.

Your programme may include biofeedback, bioresonance, nutritional therapy, Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), sleep therapies and art therapy. The combination depends on your assessment and the care agreed with you.

These therapies form part of a coordinated response to your physical and psychological needs. They are selected to support one another within the wider programme, with the aim of helping you address underlying patterns and develop healthier ways of managing emotions and everyday demands.

Treatment also considers the effects associated with dependency, including any neurological or physical difficulties identified during assessment. These concerns are addressed alongside the underlying factors contributing to the behaviour.

Intensive psychotherapy, biochemical restoration and complementary therapies form part of the whole-person approach. Their shared aim is to reduce stress, support wellbeing and help you work towards sustainable recovery, rather than treating the behaviour in isolation from the rest of your life.

Medical, psychological and personal care are coordinated around your individual plan. The emotional experience of treatment matters alongside the therapeutic work, and professional input is organised in response to your needs.

If a co-occurring substance dependency is identified, assessment also considers whether medically supervised withdrawal care is required. This is a separate clinical need; treatment for a behavioural concern does not automatically involve drug detoxification.

Pragmatism and empathy guide our comprehensive, individualised approach. Your programme is developed around your needs, with behavioural concerns and any co-occurring dependencies or mental health conditions considered together.

The appropriate programme and level of care are discussed through assessment. Residential rehabilitation and other programme options can be explored with Pathways in relation to your circumstances. The emphasis is on a pathway that reflects you, rather than a fixed schedule or a guaranteed outcome.