What is addiction?
This page is about addiction. What it is, why it takes hold, and how psychological support at Integro Health can help you work through it in a safe, non-judgemental environment in South West WA.
Addiction is a pattern of behaviour or substance use that a person feels unable to stop, even when it is causing harm to their health, relationships, work, or sense of self. It is not a character flaw, and it is not simply a bad habit that willpower can dissolve. Neurologically, repeated use of a substance or reinforcing behaviour reshapes the brain’s reward pathways, especially the dopamine system, so that the brain begins to treat the addiction as a survival need rather than a choice.
Substances and behaviours
Addiction can involve substances like alcohol, prescription medications, cannabis, stimulants, or other drugs. It can also involve behaviours such as gambling, pornography, gaming, social media use, food, or sex, where the mechanism of compulsion is psychologically similar even without a substance. Around 1 in 20 Australians meet criteria for a substance use disorder in any given year, and a large proportion of those will also be living with anxiety, depression, or the effects of trauma alongside it.
What we often see in practice is that the addiction is doing something. It might be numbing overwhelming emotion. It might be creating a sense of connection or excitement that feels absent elsewhere. It might be the only way a person has learned to manage stress or chronic pain. Understanding that function, without condoning the harm it causes, is where meaningful change usually begins.
At Integro Health, we treat the full person, not just the presenting behaviour. That means exploring what lies beneath the cycle with curiosity and care, rather than simply trying to remove the behaviour and leave everything else untouched.
How we work with you on addiction
There is no single correct path through addiction. What we do is work alongside you, at a pace that feels manageable, using approaches grounded in psychological evidence and shaped by your individual story.
Understanding your experience
Your first sessions are about building a picture of you, not just your addiction, but your history, your relationships, your emotional world, and what you are hoping life might look and feel like. There is no rush here. We ask questions because we genuinely want to understand.
Exploring what drives the cycle
Together, we look at what the addiction is doing for you. What triggers the urge? What emotional state does it manage or escape? What unmet need might it be serving? Often this exploration alone begins to shift something, because the cycle makes more sense when you can see it clearly.
Working with the underlying layers
For many people, addiction sits on top of trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, shame, or relationship pain. We work on those layers using approaches like ACT, CBT, EMDR, or schema therapy, tailored to what fits your situation. Treating the roots, not just the surface, is what creates lasting change.
Building new ways of responding
Over time, we help you develop a different relationship with the urges, emotions, and situations that have historically led to the cycle. This is not about rigid rules. It is about building genuine psychological flexibility, so that you have more choice about how you respond.
Ongoing support at the right pace
Recovery from addiction is rarely linear. Sessions are spaced to suit where you are, more frequent during difficult periods, stepped back as you gain ground. We are here for as long as the journey needs us to be, whether that is a few months or considerably longer.
Meet the Team
At Integro Health, you do not just book a clinic. You choose a practitioner who understands you. Our team of experienced psychotherapists brings clinical depth, genuine warmth, and a broad range of specialisations together under one roof. Take a moment to read about each of our practitioners and find the right fit for where you are right now.
Dr Paul King
General Practitioner
MBBS Bachelor of Medicine/ Bachelor of Surgery
FRACGP Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Jools Fordyce
Social Worker & Family Therapist
Bachelor (Hons) – Applied Social Science with Diploma in Social Work
Postgraduate Diploma in Family and Relationship Therapy
Brooke Eden
Psychologist
Bachelor of Psychology
Graduate Diploma of Education
Member of the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.
Nicholas Kerr
Psychologist
Masters of Psychology (Organisational)
Bachelor of Arts
Member of the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.
Carli King
Office Administrator
As Practice Manager, Carli keeps the daily operations of Integro Health running smoothly, ensuring our clients always receive the highest standard of care.
What you can expect when you reach out
No judgement, ever
Whatever your relationship with a substance or behaviour looks like right now, you will be met with warmth and genuine care. Not a lecture, and not a checklist.
A whole-person lens
We look at every part of you, your mental, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual wellbeing, because addiction rarely lives in just one part of a person’s life.
Evidence-based approaches
We draw on ACT, CBT, schema therapy, and EMDR depending on what fits you. Not a one-size protocol, but a genuinely tailored response to your situation.
In-clinic and online options
Whether you can get to our Eaton clinic in Bunbury or you need the privacy and convenience of telehealth, we can work with you wherever you are in South West WA and beyond.
What people get wrong about addiction and recovery
One of the most persistent myths about addiction is that it is primarily a willpower problem, that the right amount of motivation, discipline, or moral resolve should be enough to stop. This is not only inaccurate, it actively prevents people from seeking the help that would actually make a difference. Research consistently shows that willpower alone resolves addiction in fewer than 5% of cases without professional support, yet it remains the most common strategy people try first, often for years, before reaching out.
Another common misconception is that you need to have hit rock bottom before support is appropriate or worthwhile. This is simply not true. Waiting until a crisis point often means years of additional harm to health, relationships, finances, and self-worth that were entirely preventable. Early psychological support, even when the addiction is still functional and not yet catastrophic, produces meaningfully better long-term outcomes.
We also see many people in South West WA who have tried to address addiction through willpower, self-help books, or cold turkey approaches, sometimes three or four times over a five to ten year period, before connecting with psychological support. By that point, shame and self-blame have often compounded the original difficulty, making the cycle harder to break. One of the first things we do is help untangle that accumulated shame from the actual work of change, because carrying both at once is an unfair and unnecessary burden.
Finally, many people assume that addiction support means attending group programmes or residential treatment. While those approaches suit some people, they are not the only path. Individual therapy and counselling, delivered in a private, one-on-one setting at our Eaton clinic near Bunbury or by telehealth to locations like Margaret River, gives you the space to understand your addiction and change the pattern at its source.
Is what I am experiencing actually addiction?
It is common to wonder whether your relationship with a substance or behaviour crosses the line into addiction, or whether it is something less serious that you should just be able to manage. The honest answer is that the boundary matters less than the impact.
If a pattern of behaviour or substance use is causing you distress, affecting your relationships or work, taking up a significant amount of your mental energy, or leaving you feeling out of control, even some of the time, then it is worth exploring with a psychotherapist or counsellor. You do not need to meet a formal clinical threshold to deserve support.
Types of addiction
That said, there are some meaningful distinctions worth understanding:
Harmful use involves a pattern that is causing some damage but has not yet become compulsive. The person can and does stop in certain contexts, but the use is still creating problems.
Dependence involves physical or psychological reliance, where stopping causes withdrawal symptoms or severe discomfort, whether physical, as with alcohol or benzodiazepines, or psychological, as with gambling or chronic cannabis use.
Addiction, also referred to in diagnostic terms as a substance use disorder or behavioural addiction, involves compulsive use despite clearly recognising the harm it is causing. The behaviour continues even when the person genuinely wants to stop.
At Integro Health, we are not primarily focused on which category fits you. What we care about is whether your relationship with this substance or behaviour is getting in the way of you feeling well, thinking well, and living well, and whether we can help you move toward something different. You can read more about what the first session looks like here.
Your questions answered
Yes, in many cases. A Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP provides access to a Medicare rebate for up to 10 individual sessions per calendar year with a registered psychologist. Your GP will assess your eligibility, and your sessions at Integro Health can be structured to make the most of those rebated appointments. It is worth speaking with your GP in Bunbury, Busselton, or wherever you are located to get a referral in place before your first session.
Absolutely. You do not need to have made a firm decision to stop before reaching out. In fact, ambivalence about change is a completely normal part of the process, and it is something we can work with directly. Our role is not to push you toward a predetermined outcome. It is to help you understand your own experience more clearly and make choices that genuinely reflect what you want for your life.
Yes. Everything you share in sessions is confidential. There are narrow legal exceptions, for example if there is an immediate risk of serious harm to yourself or another person, but outside of those circumstances your privacy is protected. We will explain these boundaries clearly in your first session so there are no surprises.
Yes. We offer telehealth sessions across South West WA and Australia-wide, which means you can access support from anywhere, whether you are in a regional area like Manjimup or Collie, or simply prefer the privacy of attending from home. Telehealth sessions work in the same structured, safe way as in-clinic appointments.
This varies considerably from person to person and depends on the type and duration of the addiction, any co-occurring mental health concerns, and how much of the underlying work needs to be done. Some people notice meaningful shifts within 6 to 12 sessions. Others find it more helpful to work over a longer period, 12 to 24 months, particularly when trauma or a complex mental health history is involved. We will review progress with you regularly and adjust the approach as needed.
Behavioural addictions, including gambling, gaming, pornography, social media, food, and others, are just as real and just as worthy of support as substance addictions. The psychological mechanisms are closely related, and the same evidence-based approaches apply. We work with the full range of addictive patterns, not just those involving substances.
No referral is needed to book a session. If you wish to access Medicare rebates through a Mental Health Treatment Plan, you will need a GP referral first, but you are welcome to contact us directly and we can guide you through that process if needed.
We draw on a range of evidence-based methods depending on what fits you best. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is often particularly useful for addiction because it builds psychological flexibility and helps people relate differently to urges and difficult emotions. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is used to identify and shift the thought patterns that maintain the cycle. EMDR can help when trauma underlies the addiction, and schema therapy is valuable when deep-rooted patterns from early life are involved. We tailor the approach to you, not the other way around.
Medically reviewed by
General Practitioner
The clinical information on this page has been reviewed for accuracy by Dr Paul King, General Practitioner at Integro Health. It is general information, and not a substitute for personal medical or psychological advice.
