The problem of addictions in children has always been an education obstacle for parents. Many have encountered addictions in adolescents with the alcohol and drug use, but addiction now appears in children and adolescents with indiscriminate use of technology.
When we talk about addictions it is important to analyze what is really causing a true addiction, since the great consumption of something and excessively it is already making it serious. That is why we must distinguish between addiction and abuse.
What are the addiction problems in children?
Addiction must be considered important because it is distinguished from abuse when, apart from a dependency, there is a chronic disease that derives about. The person cannot control the use of that substance or technology, although he knows that it is harmful, will do everything possible to satisfy that addiction.
Addictions that appear in adolescents are a problem that still exists and is very present. It is uncontrolled substance use that affect the state of health of people such as drugs, tobacco and alcohol.
In adolescents and children addiction also appears, in this case it is not toxic substances, but the indiscriminate consumption and handling of new technology: videogames, internet and telephone. There are more and more children very hooked on this type of consumption even at too young an age. In this case, there are children so absorbed with that addiction to mobile phones and video games that create great dependency and as a consequence they make a total neglect of their tasks, real skill games and obligations.
Why do children have addictions?
Cannot be determined what causes addiction in children, since each case is different. However, it is possible to speculate on what factors are causing for an addiction to develop.
There are several main factors that are being analyzed as a consequence of parental education. There are parents who give a clear example of their own consumption and that later the children they replicate with imitation. In other cases it depends on carelessness or lack of supervision from parents to their children. Do not establish schedules, nor norms and create fair measures so that they begin to put aside that abuse.
There are children who can't stop using an addiction given that they created low self-esteem. For some reason they are children who feel misunderstood, maintain anxiety and need to escape with this form. Its consumption makes them feel much better and thus flee from reality, consuming both technology and substances.
Emotional and physiological symptoms
As in all cases of addictions, children can also suffer many very significant symptoms, since they are part of the both physical and emotional responses They respond with their behavior. Emotional symptoms They are irritability, anxiety, difficulty to maintain an emotional balance and even to concentrate and in some cases leading to depression.
With physiological symptoms we find children or adolescents with alterations in their body such as headaches, nausea, vomiting, tachycardia. Generalized pain in his body, leading to fatigue and alterations in physiological needs such as sleep and food.
How to prevent and treat an addiction in a child and adolescent
An addiction must be treated as such, since it is not the same as abuse. When people have an addiction and want to overcome them, it begins with an acknowledgment of such a problem. But children do not recognize the problem since They are unaware that this problem is real. If the problem is recognized, it is necessary to treat the problem and prevent it from recurring, avoiding it gradually or drastically.
Parents should go to a specialist and learn how to self-manage any urges of the child that they have to overcome. It must be remembered that they are children who will not feel capable of leaving it, it will generate another type of anxiety and parents must train any action that is presented to them with psychological help.