Emotional Addiction Research Articles

Effects of Long COVID on Psycho-Physical Conditions in the Italian Population: A Statistical and Large Language Model Combined Description.

Long COVID refers to the persistence or development of signs and symptoms well after the acute phase of COVID-19. To investigate the long-term outcomes of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in terms of psychological, social, and relational consequences within the Italian population. We conducted an observational, cross-sectional, and multicenter study using an online questionnaire distributed to a sample of the Italian population. By utilizing the Short Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12) and the Hikikomori scale, we assessed perceived quality of life and social isolation, respectively. The questionnaire also included an open-answer question: "What will you remember about the pandemic period?". We used generative artificial intelligence to analyze and summarize the corresponding answers. A total of 1097 people participated in this study. A total of 79.3% (n = 870) of participants declared that they had been hospitalized and 62.8% (n = 689) received home care. Physical symptoms included headaches (43%, n = 472) and asthma (30.4%, n = 334). Additionally, 29.2% (n = 320) developed an addiction during the pandemic and, among these, 224 claimed internet addiction while 73 declared an emotional addiction. Furthermore, 51.8% (n = 568) experienced limitations in carrying out daily life activities. According to the Hikikomori scale, participants with positive SARS-CoV-2 infection exhibited higher levels of isolation compared to the others (p < 0.001). Participants without COVID-19 showed higher levels of emotional support (p < 0.001). Our semiautomatic analysis of the open-ended responses, obtained by a procedure based on a free large language model, allowed us to deduce and summarize the main feelings expressed by the interviewees regarding the pandemic. The data collected emphasize the urgent need to investigate the consequences of long COVID in order to implement interventions to support psychological well-being.

Emotional addiction from the perspective of Gestalt therapy

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Виды и формы аддиктивного поведения сотрудников правоохранительных органов

The article discusses types and forms of an addictive behavior of law enforcement officers (in terms of employees of internal affairs bodies) in conjunction with individual psychological characteristics. The attention is focused on the variety of addictive behavior approaches available in the scientific literature. According to the data obtained, such addictions as relationship, Internet-computer, work, adrenaline are most pronounced among employees of the internal affairs bodies in view of the peculiarities of professional activity. It was revealed that more than half of the internal affairs officers have a tendency to manifest addictive behavior. The particular structures of the manifestation of addictive behavior are described using factor analysis. The chosen five-factor model allowed to describe specific forms of addiction: addiction of negative relations, emotional addiction, distance from society, introverted workaholism, emotional interpersonal relations. The patterns of the relationship of addictive behavior with emotional instability, anxiety, social inclusion, suspicion, and emotional regulation of behavior are revealed.

Gender stereotypes in psychosocial care for female crack and powder cocaine users.

The study analyzed health professionals' conceptions toward female users of crack and powder cocaine currently receiving psychosocial care, based on a gender perspective. Seventeen health professionals were interviewed, and systematic observations were made of the spaces for collective care in a Center for Psychosocial Care specializing in alcohol and drug addiction in Greater Metropolitan Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Analysis of the interviews and field diaries using the hermeneutic-dialectic method revealed three categories: frailty as a constitutive attribute of women's condition, the women's emotional addiction to crack and powder cocaine use, and gender stereotypes during psychosocial care. The health professionals voiced a traditional view of the heterosexual, docile, and maternal woman and reproduced stereotypical concepts when addressing female crack and cocaine users as sensitive, frail individuals, emotionally dependent on men and more involved in the home and family. These professionals need a more refined understanding of gender issues in the mental health-disease process in order to allow overcoming preconceived notions and reductionist health care practices.

Evolutionary Mismatch, Emotional Homeostasis, and “Emotional Addiction”: A Unifying Model of Psychological Dysfunction

This paper proposes a unifying evolutionary framework for understanding the genesis of a wide range of psychological disorders. Psychological disorders as a whole appear to develop at significant frequencies only under conditions of “evolutionary mismatch,” where people or animals live in environments, such as modern cities or industrialized cultures in general, that they are not evolutionarily or biologically adapted for. Evolutionarily mismatched environments appear to often cause disruptions in drive states that have evolved to maintain homeostasis. Based on several lines of evidence, I will suggest that painful, distressing emotional states can provide unconscious biochemical rewards in the brain and, under mismatched environmental conditions, can become reinforced, creating unconscious, compulsive “emotional addictions.” This core phenomenon may be the main driving force for the great majority of psychological disorders. The maladaptive drive or force that emotional addictions appear to generate, referred to here as the “non-homeostatic drive” or “addictive drive,” is suggested to dysfunctionally, unnecessarily, and repeatedly throw people out of homeostasis, creating systemic imbalances that can result in a variety of psychological dysfunctions.