Risk addiction

The concept of risk addiction or sensation-seeking, as experts know it, helps explain why people jump out of a plane at 10,000ft or belt down the motorway at 100mph. The tendency to live on the edge manifests itself in various ways, from extreme sports and dangerous challenges to less energetic past-times such as exotic travel or experimenting with drugs.

Sensation-seeking persons are people who crave "varied, novel, complex and intense sensations and experiences" tend to be easily bored by repetitious, predictable experiences and people, or by routine work assignments. Most people have a built-in aversion to risk. Others don’t... They drive over the speed limits, run the red lights, ignore obvious health problems or wait until the last moment to complete their projects. Why?

This risk addiction behavior is a guarantee of mainline adrenaline production. And the Adrenaline High is exactly what risk takers are looking for. A certain increase in the blood pressure, the powerful feeling, the super alert state of being... What is the phenomenon about? The little chemical factory inside the brain floods the mind and body with a rush of power chemicals

Each time, the sensation-seeker mind is saturated with this dynamite feeling that never seems to last long enough. So he/she does it with greater frequency or more risk. When the effect wears off he/she has the awful "hang over" feeling, uneasy, sweaty, anxious, irritable, just plain miserable. That's why he/she ups the ante, taking another, even bigger risk, coming to believe that he/she is in control of everthing. In truth, the real purpose for this type of behaviour is to avoid the feeling of powerlessness, sense of inadequacy or loneliness.

With every risk taken, the level of dopamine, a brain neurotransmitter increases. Other neurotransmitters, including serotonin, may also play a part. Low serotonin activity may account for a lack of inhibition and impulsiveness. But risk taking also depends on a person's emotional state. For someone, climbing a mountain can be a crazy thing. Not for the individuals who developed a risk addiction. They see a challenge in reducing the danger and so perceive the risks as being different.

Although often portrayed as the pursuit of physically stimulating and/or dangerous behaviors, sensation seeking includes four dimensions: thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, disinhibition and susceptibility to boredom. These four dimensions encompass behaviors such as engaging in physically risky activities; pursuing new experiences through travel, music, art or drugs; seeking social stimulation through parties, social drinking, and a variety of sex partners.

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Risk addiction

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