Characteristics of Addictive Behaviour.

One characterstic of addictive behaviour is salience. This is where the addcition become the most important thing in the indiviudals life and therefore is constatnly dominating the individuals thoughts, feelings and behaviour. When the individual is not engaging in the addictive behaviour they are preoccuppied thinking about the next time they will be enegaging in the addictive behaviour. 

The next characteristic of addictive behaviour is mood modification and this is where, when the individual engages in the addictive behaviour they experience a change in mood in terms of them getting a 'high' or a 'buzz' from the action or substance. The indiviudal may also experience a feeling of escape and numbnuss when engaging in the addictive behaviour and this is often in the cases of chemical addictions for example cocaine. 

Another characteristic of addictive behaviour is tolerance and this…