Wael Ibrahim – POPCORN ADDICTION- Is It Really An Addiction #01

My brothers, my sisters in Islam and everyone,

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, Bismillah ar

-Rahman ar-Rahim, Alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala Rasulullahi

sallallahu alaihi wasallam and welcome to this new

video series titled Popcorn Addiction or as it

is commonly known * Addiction.

So I thought to Inshallah ta'ala launch

this series and answer some of the most

common questions that I always receive almost on

a daily basis regarding popcorn addiction.

So I'd like to clear the fog of

the first question on the list right away

and before wasting your time.

And the first question is pertaining to the

nature of the behavior itself.

Is * really an addictive behavior?

And how does it compare to other addictions?

So the short answer to the questioner whether

* is addictive or not is yes, yes

it is addictive.

But the answer is much more complicated than

that.

While * addiction is not officially listed or

recognized as an addictive behavior in the DSM

-5 or the diagnostic and statistical manual used

by psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose mental illnesses,

there is mounting evidence suggests that actually *

shares a lot of the characteristics of other

behavioral addictions.

So let's break it down to understand it

even more Inshallah ta'ala.

Addiction in itself is characterized by compulsive engagement

in a rewarding stimuli despite a negative or

adverse consequences.

So you know that the substance or the

behavior is harmful and despite that you do

it anyway.

With * we see very similar patterns to

what I just described.

Users report difficulty in controlling their behavior they

escalate to more extreme content and they continue

to use despite the negative impact that they

have experienced on their lives, relationships, on their

loved ones, on their career, on their religion

and so on and so forth.

Now neurologically and I advise everyone to visit

your brain on * where there are plenty

tons of research on how * could change

the chemistry of the brain but there are

plenty of research out there which shown that

* activates the same reward circuit in the

brain as drugs or gambling.

You can check out the Cambridge study regarding

this or even the Indonesian study that I

have witnessed by myself which have shown the

impact of * consumption on the prefrontal lobes

and the changes that the physical changes we

are talking about the physical changes that *

can have on the physical reward circuit of

the brain.

Now what is really more important to understand

here is that is it really impacting you

negatively?

Is it really interfering in your life?

In your day to day activities?

Or not?

If you are happy with it, I have

nothing to tell you I have nothing to

convince you with.

It's all up to you.

It's your life.

But what really matters here is that if

* consumption interferes in your relationship, in your

work, in your studies in your faith, then

you've got a problem that you need to

resolve.

There are many people who are still debating

this issue up until today whether * is

addictive or not and so on and so

forth they say that it can never be

addictive because there are no chemicals introduced to

the human body.

But by the same token we can argue

that gambling shouldn't be considered as addictive because

it is also behavioral there is no chemicals

introduced into our body yet.

According to the DSM 5, gambling is listed

and recognized as addictive behavior.

There is a whole study about gambling addiction

so why not * is listed or recognized

as such if it shares the same exact

patterns, the same exact cycle so the debates

will continue there is no doubt about it.

But for those who are struggling, for those

who are going through *, labels really doesn't

matter anymore.

In fact, labels matter way less than the

impact itself.

So if * is haunting almost every good

thing in your life and impacting you negatively

in every step of the way and that

you're finding it very hard to stop, to

quit on your own, then you've got an

addictive behavior that you need to sort out.

So the short answer for me would be

it doesn't really matter whether * is addictive

or not.

Is it impacting you negatively?

Then it is worth looking for professional help

to support you and to get you out

of that maze.

Call it addiction, call it compulsion, call it

whatever you want to call it if it's

impacting your life, then you need to change.

And the bottom line is you will never

be able to unstuck your life from this

cycle by yourself.

So I believe that * is absolutely an

addiction that needed to be treated as a

disease because addiction itself is a brain disease.

May Allah SWT cleanse us all from any

addictive behavior whether drugs or other inappropriate activities

and may Allah SWT enable us to overcome

these challenges.

Ameen, Ameen, Ameen Jazakumullah Khair.

Please don't forget to drop your questions in

the comments below.

Perhaps I'll create a specific video to answer

your questions with Popcorn Addiction series.

Assalamualaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh