Addicted to Drama
Healing Dependency on Crisis and Chaos in Yourself and Others
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
With empathy, humor, and unique insight, a psychologist examines drama addiction and charts a path for healing in this groundbreaking book.
Do you know someone who seems to thrive on chaos, a person who manufactures crisis where there is none, makes mountains out of molehills, and whose very presence feels like an inescapable whirlwind?
You may even label them a “drama queen.”
This person might be someone close to you.
This person might even be you.
In this groundbreaking book, clinical psychologist and mind-body expert Dr. Scott Lyons turns the notion of the “drama queen” on its head, showing that drama is actually an addiction and those who are suffering with it are experiencing a much deeper psychological, biological, and social pain. For a person addicted to drama, the intensity becomes their way of coping. Their life is a constant cycle of crisis, chaos, and chronically high levels of stress. They may never be able to relax without an internal alarm going off, sending them spiraling back toward chaos. Drama is the stirring, the excitement, the exaggeration, the eruption, the unrest, and the medicine to feel alive in relation to the numbing of the internal and external world around them. For a person addicted to drama, the drama is often how they survive—or think they do.
With studies, primary research, and patient stories, Dr. Lyons deconstructs this little-understood addiction, sharing:
what drama addiction is and what it is not how to identify patterns of drama addiction in yourself and others the somatic effects of drama addiction, including chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease, joint and muscle pains, and other conditions the origins of drama addiction— and how we are heading towards a global pandemic of a dependency on crisis and chaos accessible exercises for recovery and healing
Rather than dismiss addiction to drama as just attention-seeking, Dr. Lyons offers clear-eyed empathy, humor, and practical strategies to help us all understand and break free of the drama cycle.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Clinical psychologist Lyons explores drama addiction and how readers can heal from it in this illuminating debut. Rather than being a mere desire for attention, drama addiction, Lyons writes, is a way of "seeking crisis" to "validate an unidentifiable... discomfort" that can cause sufferers stress and rob them of life's "subtle, deeper, and richer" moments. Lyons first outlines key features of drama addiction, including intense, urgent feelings; anxiety paradoxically triggered by attempts to relax; and a tendency toward oversensitivity. Physically, drama addiction can also trigger an elevated stress response, since one is attuned to dangers that aren't actually present. For treatment, Lyons recommends analyzing damaging behavioral patterns, identifying unmet emotional needs, and seeking stable relationships. Those afflicted might experience a sense of emptiness once they start letting go of a drama-centered identity, he explains, but it's all a part of recovering. Finally, the author offers such practices as targeted meditations and prompts ("Where does lack of confidence show up in your life?") to help readers work through emotional struggles. The plan is underlaid with thorough psychological insight but remains eminently accessible, bolstered by relatable anecdotes and actionable advice. Readers will find this a thoughtful, practical entry.
