Behavioral Psychiatry

What is dependence?

Dependence is a brain disease of compulsive behavior despite harmful consequences. People suffering from behavioral dependence have an intense focus on using a certain behaviors(e.g gaming, gambling), to the point that it takes over their life. They keep using the substance or behavior despite knowing it will cause them problems.

What kind of behavioral dependencies can a child psychiatrist help with?

We treat people with many different kinds of addiction at Garden Psych including sex addiction and behavioral addictions including:

• Videogames
• Pornography
• Multimedia(TV & Movies)
• Excessive information seeking on web

How does behavioral dependence start?

People behavioral dependencies for 4 reasons:

• Enjoyment, “high”
• Relieve stress
• Performance enhancement
• Curiosity/Peer pressure

It is normal for all of us to utilize things for enjoyment, stress relief, improve performance and socialize. However, addiction becomes a problem when we are unable to stop the behavior and the substance/behavior causes problems with work, family, and friends.

People suffering from behavioral dependence have strong cravings and urges to partake in the behavior. They often struggle with cutting back on the behavior despite attempts in the past. The behavioral dependence can cause difficulties at work, school, and at home. Often times there is tolerance (needing larger amounts) and withdrawal (negative emotional/physical effects).

 

How can a Child Psychiatrist help my child’s with behavioral dependencies?

Dr Memon is trained both in addiction and child psychiatry. Use of excessive use of electronics can result in changes in how brain develops. Kids can struggle with behavioral dependencies due to many underlying mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression. Treating the underlying mental health condition of your child can treat the root cause of the problem, which your child is using the addiction to cope with.

The challenges of adolescence and adulthood are not the same. Dr Memon has extensive training in child and adolescent psychiatry allowing him to better connect with your child and to address the specific needs of your child. Dr Memon’s child psychiatry training also lets him conduct family therapy sessions which allows for navigation of tough situations such as drug testing, privacy and autonomy that need to be discussed in helping adolescent struggling with behavioral dependence. If you child has certain neurodevelopmental conditions, we are able to provide access to behavioral therapies such as applied behavioral analysis(ABA).

To help yourself or a loved one fighting behavioral dependencies please make an appointment by contacting us at 609-601-4161