Can meditation help with addiction?

[Never_give_up]

My eating disorder has gone out of control. It seems that I take back all the weight I lost. The reason of my addiction is boredom but I can't replace it with anything. 

Therapists can't help me, I already see one. Could it be that focusing on my breath will make my mind not being focused on the addiction?

 

I post this here because the problem is more about the addiction than the awakening meditation topic. Although I wouldn't mind to know anything mystical that could come out of meditation. Thank you  

[Applegarden8]

YES, book a session with @Emerald

[Sugarcoat]

I used to struggle with this (not so extreme though). Now I have ~zero~ problem around food. I don’t know a method that works because I don’t feel I got here through effort, but rather things healed inside me kind of and my brain found another way to get that dopamine. So I’d say that your brain is hooked on the pleasure (dopamine high I’m guessing) from the food. So you need to find other ways to get a kind of high, ways that are healthier. Like socializing for example. Ego boosting (vague term I don’t know how else to put it, it could be something like flexing your gym gains in the mirror, so self centered activity) That’s two I can think of. 

Also the food you eat can play a role, I don’t have too much knowledge in this but I will study nutrition this autumn but maybe try various ways of eating and seeing if it can curb your cravings, maybe you’re lacking something, maybe you need more sugar from fruit . 
 

Being present, meditation etc can probably help too to become more grounded and not immediately act on the impulse which can with time decrease the impulse for sure. It’s probably worth a try

Edited Thursday at 06:11 PM by Sugarcoat

[AION]

1 hour ago, Sugarcoat said:

I used to struggle with this (not so extreme though). Now I have ~zero~ problem around food. I don’t know a method that works because I don’t feel I got here through effort, but rather things healed inside me kind of and my brain found another way to get that dopamine. So I’d say that your brain is hooked on the pleasure (dopamine high I’m guessing) from the food. So you need to find other ways to get a kind of high, ways that are healthier. Like socializing for example. Ego boosting (vague term I don’t know how else to put it, it could be something like flexing your gym gains in the mirror, so self centered activity) That’s two I can think of. 

Also the food you eat can play a role, I don’t have too much knowledge in this but I will study nutrition this autumn but maybe try various ways of eating and seeing if it can curb your cravings, maybe you’re lacking something, maybe you need more sugar from fruit . 
 

Being present, meditation etc can probably help too to become more grounded and not immediately act on the impulse which can with time decrease the impulse for sure. It’s probably worth a try

For me it was "I can't deal with life so let me numb myself with this substance" but on the long term it is detrimental. I rather should have looked for productive dopamine activities and make moves.

[Sugarcoat]

5 minutes ago, AION said:

For me it was "I can't deal with life so let me numb myself with this substance" but on the long term it is detrimental. I rather should have looked for productive dopamine activities and make moves.

Yes stress is definitely a factor

[Raze]

https://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/art_urges.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtvpqp4Y6w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_tA76X9ybw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwxvUofenC4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFqzoOzNJBk

[Jacob Morres]

I used to have a mild addiction where id eat out of boredom. for me developing a powerlifting goal helped me to be motivated to eat right and healthy and also gave me things to do. i think it might take several different things outside of just breathing i think. probably a combination of a higher goal that work toward instead & tactics when you get urges  

i do wonder why this is the case and why this happened. i would assume changing your coping mechanisms to healthier ones should be effective at a first glance. i think figuring out why might help:

> The reason of my addiction is boredom but I can't replace it with anything. 

i would also recommend looking into the field of addiction. it is very well studied. just make sure to find information this is directly applicable for you 

Edited Thursday at 08:20 PM by Jacob Morres