Process Addiction

Treatment for Process Addictions

Many addictions involve no substance abuse, but instead revolve around compulsive behaviors that are self-defeating and deeply disruptive to emotional, mental, and social well-being. These are known as process addictions and may include gambling addiction, sexual addiction, eating disorders, self-harm, and a growing category of technology-based addictions such as AI addiction, social media addiction, gaming addiction, streaming addiction, porn addiction, phone addiction, and information addiction.

At Avalon Malibu, we work closely with individuals struggling with process and technology-related addictions to break negative behavioral patterns using integrative, evidence-based therapies. Our program focuses on healing the underlying emotional drivers of addiction while building the skills necessary to reconnect with the present moment, foster healthy relationships, and reclaim life offline.

The dynamic, successful treatment of process addictions involves intensive psychotherapy, deepened self-awareness, and the establishment of healthy behavioral patterns. At Avalon Malibu, we also provide accessible, expertly guided psychoeducation to help clients better understand both the chemical and psychological processes that take place in the presence of addictive behaviors.

Mindfulness-Based Therapies for Behavioral Addiction

Through focused awareness, mindfulness practice provides a powerful tool for changing negative behavioral patterns. Using nonjudgmental, meditative techniques, clients can leverage observation and intention to guide behavioral change. Because compulsive behaviors often involve both a biological and emotional component, process addictions often leave individuals on autopilot, deferring to coping mechanisms reinforced over time.

Mindfulness-based therapies (MBT) allow clients to consciously experience and re-examine these automatic behaviors, providing the insight necessary to initiate lasting change.

Uncovering Core Issues Behind Process Addictions

For many clients, process addictions take root early on, usually originating back to young adulthood or even the early childhood years, in attempts to cope with fears, negative belief structures, and traumatic events. At Avalon Malibu, world-class clinicians work closely with clients in private therapy sessions to uncover sources of anxiety, depression and avoidance that set the stage for process addictions to take hold.

Specializing in anxiety reduction, psychological disorder treatment, and trauma recovery, our clinical staff guides clients in identifying and healing primary causes of compulsive behaviors.

Present-Centered Recovery for Behavioral Addiction

In a safe, compassionate setting, clinical experts remove the fear around nascent experiences that pull clients towards their unresolved pasts. In addition to well-established cognitive-behavioral and trauma-focused paradigms, clinicians employ emergent psychotherapy tools such as expressive arts and experiential and biofeedback therapies, allowing clients to move from repression to progress.

By focusing on the experience of the present moment, clients move towards healing and resolution, enabling them to create the lifestyles they desire and deserve.

Learn More About How We Treat

Want to learn more about our treatments for process addiction? Call today to speak confidentially to an addiction specialist.

Call 1-888-958-7511

AI and Technology Addiction: A New and Urgent Concern

AI addiction is a fast-emerging form of digital dependency characterized by the compulsive and harmful use of AI-powered applications, including AI chatbots like ChatGPT, image and video generation tools, algorithm-driven social media platforms, AI gaming, AI roleplay, and AI-generated pornography. These technologies can hijack the brain’s reward system, leading users to rely on them for emotional regulation, self-validation, and even social connection. This behavior often continues despite negative consequences and repeated attempts to stop.

Avalon Malibu is a luxury treatment center offering targeted therapies for AI and internet addiction as part of our comprehensive process addiction programming. We understand how over-reliance on AI tools can blur the lines between reality and simulation, disrupt emotional health, compromise attention and focus, and interfere with meaningful interpersonal relationships. Left untreated, these conditions are strongly linked with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.

Our approach is rooted in compassionate, trauma-informed care that incorporates psychotherapy, mindfulness, and psychoeducation to help clients regain balance and autonomy.

Why Treatment is Critical

Over time, behavioral addictions activate neurochemical pathways that reinforce compulsive use through cycles of stimulation, stress, and temporary relief. These patterns can become deeply entrenched and increasingly disruptive. Through intensive individual therapy, group therapy, and psychoeducation, Avalon Malibu helps clients:

Identify and understand the emotional and psychological roots of their addiction
Recognize harmful thought and behavior patterns
Establish healthier coping mechanisms and routines
Reconnect with life offline and improve real-world relationships
Rebuild self-trust, emotional regulation, and presence

Types of Process Addictions We Treat

AI addiction (ChatGPT, AI chatbots, AI roleplay, AI porn, image/video generators, etc.)
Social media addiction (Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Snapchat, Facebook, Discord, etc.)
Phone addiction (compulsive screen time, notification checking, etc.)
Streaming addiction (YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.)
Gaming addiction (video games, online games, mobile/social games)
Pornography addiction (digital porn, erotic chatrooms, dating apps)
Information addiction (news scrolling, compulsive health/product research)
Other process addictions (gambling, sex, self-harm)