Addictive Patterns & Negative Habits: When Coping Becomes a Cycle You Can’t Escape
You’re not weak. You’re not out of control. You’re coping with what your system believes is survival.
At The Mind Works with Craig, we don’t view addictive patterns and negative habits as moral failings. We see them as protective loops—neurobiological, psychological, and emotional responses to pressure, pain, and unmet needs.
This isn’t about discipline. It’s about disconnection.
What Are Addictive Patterns and Negative Habits?
Whether it’s:
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Alcohol
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Food
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Scrolling
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Gambling
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Overworking
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Porn
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Nicotine
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Or even excessive control over your routine…
These behaviours aren’t random. They’re your system’s way of managing emotional load, nervous system dysregulation, or unresolved internal conflict.
You’re not broken. You’re stuck in a cycle.
The Protective Loop: Why You Keep Going Back
In the Mind Works model, addiction and habit loops follow a predictable pattern:
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Unmet Need: A gap exists—whether emotional, physiological, or relational.
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Protective Loop Activation: The Protective Self steps in to avoid discomfort, pain, or emotional activation.
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Loss of Self: Over time, the habit takes on a life of its own. It stops feeling like a choice—and starts feeling like the only option.
This cycle can feel impossible to break. Not because you lack willpower—but because the habit is serving a protective, nervous-system-regulating function.
The Dopamine Trap: Brain Chemistry Behind Your Behaviour
Addictive patterns are not just psychological—they’re chemical.
When your baseline dopamine is low (from chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, or trauma), your brain starts chasing fast spikes:
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Alcohol = Dopamine hit → crash → craving
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Sugar = Dopamine hit → crash → craving
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Social Media = Dopamine hit → crash → craving
The more you rely on these behaviours, the more your baseline drops. This creates what we call a Relief Cycle—where the habit only offers momentary comfort before leaving you feeling worse.
Tower Block and Gears of Motivation: Why You Can’t “Just Stop”
Where you sit on the Tower Block determines how strong the pull toward addictive behaviour will feel:
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Levels 1–3 (Comfort & Survival Gears): Protective Self dominates. Quick comfort feels essential.
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Basement/Dungeon: Emotional disintegration or external entrapment amplifies the loop.
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Void: Numbness and absence of feeling drive compulsive consumption—not for pleasure, but just to feel something… anything.
This isn’t about lacking discipline. It’s about lacking Fuel and Rhythm.
The Gears of Motivation model explains it further:
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When your system is in Gear 1 or 2, your only available drivers are comfort and survival.
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The higher decision-making parts of your mind (Ideal/Future Self) are offline.
You’re not failing. You’re operating from the only gear available to you.
Why Quick Fixes Don’t Work (And Why Shame Makes It Worse)
If you’ve tried:
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Cold turkey
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Willpower-only challenges
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Punishment-based plans
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External accountability without internal readiness
And it hasn’t worked… there’s a reason.
These approaches ignore:
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Nervous system readiness (Fuel collapse)
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Parts of Self conflict (Protective vs Ideal Self)
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Emotional load (meaning collapse in Rhythm)
Until these layers are addressed, stopping the behaviour feels impossible—and the shame of “failing again” just deepens the protective loop.
How The Mind Works Can Help
We won’t tell you to “just stop.”
Instead, we help you:
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Stabilise your nervous system first: Using HRV tools, breathwork, and rhythm-based interventions.
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Understand the real emotional drivers behind the behaviour: Through the Map of the Subconscious and Parts of Self work.
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Rebuild your internal motivation gears: Moving from survival to comfort to long-term direction.
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Address underlying core beliefs: Like “I’m out of control,” “I’m a failure,” or “This is just who I am.”
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Create exit ramps that feel achievable: Not through force, but through nervous system regulation and small, steady shifts.
This is change built on rhythm and reconnection—not pressure.
Next Step: Let’s Exit the Loop
If you’re stuck in cycles of addiction, bingeing, scrolling, or self-sabotage, this is your invitation.
Not to fight yourself.
But to reconnect with yourself.
👉 Join the Online Course
👉 Book a 1:1 Call
Let’s rebuild your system—one breath, one choice, one rhythm at a time.
