Can You Be Addicted To A Person? Examples Of Unhealthy Behavior

If you’ve ever been in love before, then you know how intoxicating it can be to spend time with someone that you’re enamored with, even at the detriment of mental health. Sometimes you want time to stand still when you’re with the person that you love the most in the world. This is a very beautiful feeling, and it’s something that everyone should experience at some point in life. However, it’s also possible that this could become a problem if you get too addicted to seeing this person.

Is it possible to be addicted to a person?

Is “love addiction,” or being addicted to a person, even possible? Yes, it is possible to become addicted to spending time with someone. Love and addiction are both powerful concepts, and many people experience this situation when they fall in love. It’s fine to feel that sense of addiction to your lover’s touch or think that it’s too long to be with them throughout the day. You just can’t let those feelings become so overpowering that you start to make bad decisions. Additionally, love addiction is a separate process from what is noted in those experiencing substance use, although there are parallels that may illustrate both concepts similarly. 

If you are struggling with substance use, contact the SAMHSA National Helpline at (800) 662-4357 to receive support and resources. Support is available 24/7.

There are many examples of addictive relationships. These sometimes lead to unhealthy behavior that can throw your life into turmoil. If this starts to happen, it can become a detriment to your overall quality of life. It can also harm your partner since you’ll be taking up a lot of their time and causing them to lose focus on other aspects of life.

Losing sleep

When you’ve become addicted to someone, it’s easy to try to spend as much time as possible with them. You might even wind up losing a significant amount of sleep due to your desires. This could involve you staying awake longer than you should while texting your new lover. It could also include situations where you’re staying up late with them too often due to regular romantic rendezvous. Consensual, enthusiastic, and safe sex is healthy, but you need to make sure that you’re getting enough rest as well.

If you focus too much time on enjoying your new relationship, other things will start to suffer. When you’re only getting a few hours of sleep each night, it’s going to take a toll on you. Eventually, you’ll find that you have less energy, and your performance at work will take a hit. Avoid situations like this and try to be responsible about spending time with your romantic partner.

Missing work

Of course, if you’ve been losing a lot of sleep, you might likely start missing work. If you are so addicted to your partner that you’re missing work to spend more time with them, then that’s a bad sign. Loving someone is fine, but being obsessed with them is generally unhealthy. This will lead to consequences in your life that you might not be prepared for, too.

For instance, if you forget to call into work, then you could wind up getting reprimanded. It’s even possible that you could get fired if you wind up missing too many days. Having your source of income interrupted is something that has the potential to ruin your life. Your relationship should be a positive thing, and you don’t want it to turn into something that is causing you harm.

Losing touch with friends

Spending an extreme amount of time with someone can also cause you to lose touch with others. Most people have several friends in their lives that they would count as important people. If you usually spend a couple of days per week hanging out with your friends, then they might find it strange when you suddenly stop. Your new boyfriend or girlfriend might start monopolizing your time, which could harm friendships that you hold close to your heart.

If you lose touch with friends, this gives you fewer people to turn to when you have problems. It’s also not fair to your friends since you should want to support them when they need you as well. This is why finding a balance is so crucial. These feelings of being addicted to your partner aren’t all that unusual, but this still doesn’t mean that they’re healthy. You have to showcase some willpower and try to maintain independence outside of your new relationship.

Losing sight of your life goals

Many people wind up losing sight of their goals when they become too addicted to a person. You might be so focused on pleasing your new girlfriend or boyfriend that you forget about some things that truly matter to you. For example, you might be working on a college degree to start the career of your dreams. Your career aspirations might fall by the wayside if you let your addiction to a certain person fully take over.

Your life goals are important, and they shouldn’t be cast aside because you fell in love with someone. Love is wonderful, and there is room for your new partner in your life. They just shouldn’t become your entire life. If your new girlfriend or boyfriend keeps you from realizing your goals or tries to keep you from your dreams, that isn’t a good sign.

Feeling anxiety and/or paranoia

You might even notice that you will start feeling anxious about your relationship. If you’re addicted to somebody, then what happens when you don’t hear from them for a while? Do you start to get worried or anxious about what they might be doing? Will you become paranoid that they’re cheating on you or looking for someone else?

If you’re so addicted to someone that you can’t get enough of them, then it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to say that you could become paranoid. Your new partner has their own life, though. Even if they do love spending time with you, there will be times when they will need space. If you feel extreme anxiety when you aren’t with your partner, this is bad for your well-being. It’s going to make it tough for you to function properly, and you might even try to force your partner into unhealthy habits due to feeling needy.

Try to find a healthy balance

Finding a healthy balance in romantic relationships is of the utmost importance. You need to focus on other areas of your life outside of your addiction to a person. For this reason, you might need to take certain steps to break your addiction to the person in question. If you love this individual and want to continue the relationship, then this might be hard. Even so, you need to try to start balancing your life out so that things will work out in the end.

If your new lover cares for you, then they will be fine with giving you some space when you need it. They should also have their own life goals and aspirations. You are making sure that you each have a life outside of the relationship matters. When you do come together, you’ll be able to fully enjoy each other’s company without having to feel like the other aspects of your life are suffering. You can set up some rules to make sure that things go smoothly.

Set up days where you can see each other and spend a bit more time with one another than usual. You can communicate a bit by phone each day to touch base. This should allow you to feel close without having to spend every waking moment together. Just don’t go overboard with the texting since that can lead to many of the same problems mentioned above. Try to spend your week doing all of the things you need to do to live a healthy life.

Focus on your job and your important life goals. Don’t neglect your personal goals, such as physical fitness. Take time to participate in the hobbies that you love. Call your friends and make sure that you’re cultivating those important relationships as well. So long as you’re living a balanced life, your time spent with your new partner can be positive and healthy for you.

Consider going to couples therapy

If you and your partner struggle to find the right balance to make your relationship work, you should seek help. Online couples therapy is the perfect way to take care of issues like this. If you’re both addicted to one another and other aspects of your life are struggling, then a therapist will be able to help. These online counselors understand how to help you balance your life while still nurturing your relationship. They can also help address individual mental health concerns that may impact a relationship, like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or personality disorders.

You can reach out to these online counselors whenever you would like to, and you’ll be able to go through therapy sessions from the comfort of your own home. It’s possible to attend therapy sessions together with your partner, or you can seek out individual sessions to work on personal problems. Either way, you’re going to find that these dedicated professionals are ready to help you move past your issues. In addition, online therapy has been found to deliver comparable levels of care and support as face-to-face therapy.