PASSION AND ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS

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Passion and Addictive Behaviors

With harmonious passion, the person is in control of the activity. As such, the person can decide when to and when not to engage in the activity and should even be able to drop out of the activity if the latter has become permanently negative for the person. Such is not the case with obsessive passion because the activity has taken control of the person. Such rigid persistence can lead the person to persist in the passionate activity even though some permanent negative consequences are experienced, eventually leading to addiction. Indeed, preliminary evidence reveals that obsessive passion may contribute to addictive behavior evidenced by pathological gambling, excessive online gaming, and online shopping dependency, while harmonious passion does not.

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