Addiction is one form of mental illness. We have heard of people being addicted to certain foods or drinks or behaviors. People can be addicted to anything, as we have found out. Some addictions are truly creepy and weird. Psychologists say that certain behaviors become addictive when the person experiences happiness and associates the happy feeling with the addictive behavior, and they fail to see how gross their addiction is. Check out this list of weird addictions which people actually suffer from.
13 – Weird addictions
1.  Drinking blood
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Starting with the weirdest addiction we found – drinking the blood of people. It seems a lady named Julia Caples who lives in Pennsylvania has been drinking the blood of human beings for the past 30 years! She is of course, addicted to it and believes it keeps her beautiful. This is one of the most bizarre addictions on the list.
2.  Shopping
Going on a shopping binge is completely different from being addicted to it. The medical term for shopping addiction is Oniomania. Shopping addicts have nothing but shopping on their minds and buy things whether they need something or not. Shopping is something you can get addicted to pretty easily. If you buy something everyday online, hide your purchases from everyone, then you may consider getting professional help for your shopping behavior.
3.  Coffee Enemas
Another addiction in the most bizarre category is the addiction to coffee enemas. This is one of the weirdest addictions, as people get their daily buzz from coffee not by drinking it, but through their bottoms. Coffee is absorbed by the body much quicker in that manner. One couple, Tina and Mike, from Florida, devote 5 hours a day to their addiction. Tina claims her gastrointestinal disorders were relieved by her unique method of consuming coffee.
4.  Hair pulling
Talk about strange obsessions, and pulling hair is right there at the top. Some people experience the compulsion to pull out hair, from the head, eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, arms, legs, anywhere. They feel extremely anxious until they are able to pull some hair out from some part of their body. This condition is known as Trichotillomania, and people who have this may even eat or chew their hair, making is one of the weirdest addictions for sure.
5.  Eating glass
You probably can’t imagine chewing pieces of glass for lunch or dinner, but some people cannot have enough of glass. It’s doesn’t come without a price, they often get injured by the glass they consume. Sometimes, this obsession hurts them quite seriously. One of the strange obsessions which is also life-threatening, and the condition is medically known as hyalophagia.
6.  Cosmetic surgery
BDD, the Body Dysmorphic Disorder is considered to be behind the desire to have cosmetic surgeries repeatedly. People who suffer from strange obsessions like this one, do not care whether their life is in danger because of their compulsion. They might continue to have several procedures because they feel their body or face is not good enough. They imagine their body to be flawed and therefore have numerous cosmetic surgeries.
7.  Exercising
Exercising in a normal way is great, but when it affects life and work, then it becomes an addiction. People who obsess about their weight exercise even when they have some injury, and work out to the point that even their relationships are strained. Maybe they get addicted to the adrenaline high which is the result of exercise, but 2-3 hours of cardio does put a strain on the body.
8.  Chewing ice
Chewing ice is one of the weird addictions which actually points to an underlying disorder. It’s an indication of anemia/iron deficiency. The habit of chewing a huge amount of ice is known as pagophagia. Chewing ice, eating glass, dirt and other things which have no nutritional value is known as ‘pica’.
9.  Gaming
Gaming is an activity you can get addicted to quite easily. It can become obsessive, and the symptoms are when the gamer thinks about gaming even when he is engaged in other activities. The addicted gamer will lie about the time they spend playing games and be in a bad mood or become anxious if they are not gaming.
10. Addicted to the net
This is an addiction which many of us have, and the numbers are rising. Net addicts cannot resist checking their mails and messages every few minutes. Social media is one of the reasons why most people are addicted to the net.
11. Applying lip balm
As weird addictions go, this addiction has 12 step recovery group, even though the debate is on whether it is a certifiable addiction or not. It causes problems when it causes people to apply lip balm more than 50-100 times a day. These people also have a stash in their pockets and purses. It does not seem to cause any physical health problems, but like other addictions, lip balm addiction causes mental stress and anxiety.
12. Eating soap
Soap eating is a type of disorder which can liquefy the bowels. Some people who have a fondness of laundry detergent have died because they consumed detergent regularly. Eating soap is a strange addiction, and is also more common than you think.Â
13. Relishing paint chips
There are people who love eating paint chips. Children are the ones who are most vulnerable as they are the ones who are most prone to eating paint, especially paint which is lead based. This is a serious disorder and another form of this disorder is drinking nail polish. All these obsessions or disorders arise when there is something lacking in the lives of the people. They may be eating out of stress or anxiety, and it goes beyond their control.
Any addiction is harmful to mental, physical and emotional health, and having one which is out of the ordinary sometimes makes it difficult to get rid of. Just like other addictions, weird addictions can be cured too, with willpower and discipline.
