Counseling and therapy for those affected by 

  • Media addiction (see also therapy and advice center for media addiction)
  • Gambling addiction
  • Compulsive shopping
  • Sex addiction
  • Advice for relatives, partners or friends
  • Therapeutically guided groups for affected persons
  • Discussion groups for relatives
  • Experietial education activities
  • Information events; On request, the institute conducts lectures and seminars for professionals, schools and interested persons.

First Interview/Briefing

As part of a personal first contact, the current situation will be clarified together with the victims and / or relatives as well as initial consultation and necessary further steps will be worked out together.

The consulting and treatment concept includes

  • First Interview & motivational interview
  • Psychosocial counseling and support for affected persons and relatives
  • Information transfer
  • Individuelle Analyse des Suchtverhaltens
  • Determination of influencing factors and triggering factors
  • Short- and long-term consequences of addictive behavior
  • Self-worth and resource enhancement of the affected person
  • Learning of alternative behaviors and problem-solving strategies
  • Collection and treatment of mental illness
  • Crisis – interventions
  • Relapse prophylaxis

Contact and more information
Institut für Verhaltenssüchte
Salztorgasse 5, 1. floor
1010 Vienna

Contact:
Mag.a. Julia DIER
verhaltenssucht@sfu.ac.at

Head:
Dr. Dominik Batthyány
dominik.batthyany@sfu.ac.at

What is a behavioural addiction?

In the case of a behavioral search, no substances are introduced or taken from the outside. The positive psychological effect which is necessary for a development of dependency, arises by endogenous biochemical changes that are triggered by the excessive perform of a particular behavior.

Comparable with the effect of using substances that modify the consciousness (for example, alcohol), the excessive behavior can be felt as particularly rewarding (stress-reducing, mood-improving) and make life seem more tolerable for the affected person in the short term.The affected persons learn that they can quickly and effectively regulate or suppress feelings associated with frustrations, insecurities and anxieties, with certain behavior patterns or patterns of use.
During the development of addiction, the excessive behavior is increasingly becoming the center of life and becomes uncontrollable.
The place of retreat expands in the life of the victim and captures him.
Alternative behaviors or adequate stress processing strategies for difficult or stressful life situations are not developed but enter the background and become forgotten.
Attention is focused on the next state of intoxication, Social relations, interests and other points of reference of life are reduced, the work performance decreases, the affected persons can fall into disrepair – a spiral starts to rotate. Addiction disease becomes an existential emergency.

Literature reference:
Rausch ohne Drogen
Substanzungebundene Süchte
Batthyány, Dominik; Pritz, Alfred (Hrsg.)
Springer WienNewYork 2009
ISBN: 978-3-211-88569-7