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women and girls, ADDvance (http://www.addvance.com/). Also one
can search for ADD or ADHD on any search engine, such as Yahoo or
Alta Vista, and get several sites.
Bedwetting can usually be controlled with an apparatus that
signals the first drop of urine. Eventually, the person learns to detect
bladder tension and wakes up (Yates, 1970; see Sears catalog for
bedwetting alarm). There are medications to help and even a self-help
picture book for children with this problem (Mack, 1989).
Codependency is the action of a person who becomes addicted to
an addict and in the process devotes her/his life, without success, to
supporting, tolerating abuse, caring for, and attempting to "save" the
addict. Anyone caught in this trap should get help (see Beattie, 1987,
1989; Norwood, 1986). It is confusing, but the same term,
codependence, is also sometimes used to describe a group of
symptoms Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA's) are supposed to have:
fear of intimacy, indecisiveness, discomfort with feelings, and
problems maintaining friendships or love relationships. The evidence is
very slim that ACOA's actually have these problems more than others
(George, La Marr, Barrett, & McKinnon, 1999). On the other hand,
there is some evidence that ACOA's, especially women, have higher
drug and alcohol use and somewhat poorer psychosocial adjustment
(Jacob, Windle, Seilhamer & Bost, 1999).
Coffee drinking is primarily an attraction to caffeine, according to
Morris and Charney (1983)--so why do I only drink decaffeinated? This
attraction to caffeine is probably true if you drink a lot of brewed
coffee. Gradually switch to instant coffee (it has 1/3 the caffeine), then
to decaffeinated, then reduce the number of cups, then drink orange
juice.
Compulsiveness is a result of insecurity. All of us are faced with
our limitations; we fear making mistakes. If we are secure within
ourselves, we can handle our weaknesses and errors (but we may be
quite orderly and careful). The insecure person is likely to excessively
compensate for his/her real or imagined limitations by becoming
overly compulsive. Thus, many mild compulsions are beneficial; some
serious ones are terrible handicaps (most addicts are compulsive);
others are merely bad "habits" which can be dropped with a little
conscious effort. Obsessive-Compulsive disorders are dealt with in
chapter 5.
Compulsive spending or overspending
Compulsive spending, impulse buying, and over-spending to the
point of financial disaster are good, fun habits gone awry. The
interesting, exciting activities of shopping have become an obsessional
escape and/or an irrational way to handle emotions. The compulsive
shopper buys things they want at the moment even if they don't have
the money to pay for them. Often this is done to cheer themselves up
or to reward themselves during down times, even though their own
