Hooked: How Common Obsessions Lead to Depression
We are wired to pursue pleasure, but too much often backfires — among both children and adults. Here’s how to break the cycle and restore balance.
This article is part of a Wise & Well Special Report: The United States of Depression.
Gregory is an intelligent and kind young man in his mid-20s. At age 16, he dropped out of school. He still lives with his mother. Suffering from anxiety and depression, he has worked a smattering of entry-level, part-time jobs…none lasting more than a few months.
Gregory’s main preoccupation? Video games. He plays them for hours on end, every day and into the wee hours of the morning.
It would be easy to dismiss Gregory — whose name has been changed here to protect his identity — as just another lazy, unmotivated poster boy for Gen Z. But the fact is, you may be more similar to Gregory than you think.
As experts are increasingly learning, today’s easy access to over-stimulating behaviors — such as gaming, gambling, shopping, sexting, texting, Facebooking, and surfing the Web — provide near-constant enticement. And frequently giving in to those temptations can lead to obsession, addiction, anxiety, and depression, says psychiatrist Anna…
