Cross-Addiction in Recovery: When One Addiction Replaces Another

You’ve finally quit drinking. The first weeks or months are behind you. You’re proud of yourself, and you should be. But then you notice something troubling: you’re eating compulsively, shopping excessively, exercising obsessively, or finding yourself glued to your phone for hours.

Welcome to the confusing and frustrating world of cross-addiction (also called transfer addiction or addiction substitution). You stopped one destructive behavior only to find yourself caught in another.

If this is happening to you, first know this: you’re not failing at recovery. Cross-addiction is a well-documented phenomenon that happens to many people in recovery. Understanding why it occurs and how to address it can help you build authentic, balanced sobriety.

What Is Cross-Addiction?

Cross-addiction (or transfer addiction) occurs when someone in recovery from one addiction develops a new addiction to a different substance or behavior.

Common examples:

• Quitting alcohol but becoming addicted to food
• Getting sober but developing a gambling problem
• Stopping drinking but using excessive exercise compulsively
• Recovery from alcohol but addiction to shopping/spending
• Sobriety from alcohol but problematic use of social media, gaming, or pornography
• Switching from alcohol to marijuana, pills, or other substances

Key characteristic: The new behavior or substance serves the same purpose the original addiction did - escape, numbness, dopamine rush, distraction from emotions, or relief from discomfort.

Why Does Transfer Addiction Happen?

Understanding the “why” helps you address the root causes rather than playing addiction whack-a-mole.

The Brain Chemistry Factor

Remember that addiction fundamentally involves your brain’s reward system. Alcohol floods your brain with dopamine (the pleasure/motivation neurotransmitter) at levels far higher than natural rewards.

When you stop drinking:

• Your brain is depleted of dopamine
• Natural pleasure feels blunted or absent
• You’re dealing with anhedonia (inability to feel joy)
• Your reward system desperately seeks dopamine from somewhere

Enter the substitute addiction: Any behavior or substance that provides a dopamine hit becomes tempting. Food (especially sugar), shopping, gambling, sex - they all trigger dopamine release. Your brain, starving for dopamine, latches onto the new source.

The Unaddressed Root Causes

Most addiction isn’t really about the substance or behavior. It’s about what the addiction does for you:

Addiction serves many purposes:

• Escapes emotional pain
• Numbs uncomfortable feelings
• Provides temporary relief from anxiety or depression
• Offers distraction from problems
• Fills emptiness or boredom
• Soothes loneliness
• Regulates overwhelming emotions

If you get sober but don’t address these underlying issues, you still have all the same pain, anxiety, depression, trauma, or emptiness. Your brain will naturally seek another way to cope.

The “Dry Drunk” Syndrome

“Dry drunk” is a recovery term for someone who’s stopped drinking but hasn’t changed the underlying patterns. They’re sober but miserable, still exhibiting addictive thinking and behavior patterns.

Characteristics include:

• All-or-nothing thinking
• Impulsivity and poor emotional regulation
• Self-centeredness or self-pity
• Difficulty with relationships
• Inability to cope with stress
• Persistent negative emotions
• Control issues

Without addressing these patterns, they easily transfer to another addiction. The behavior changes, but the person doesn’t.

The Replacement Habit

Drinking often occupies significant time and mental energy. When you stop, you have a void:

What drinking used to fill:

• Time (hours spent drinking, recovering, planning to drink)
• Routine (happy hour, evening drinks, weekend binges)
• Reward system (celebrate, relax, socialize with alcohol)
• Social identity (where you went, who you saw)
• Coping mechanism (how you dealt with stress)

If you don’t intentionally fill this void with healthy alternatives, your brain will fill it with something. And addictive behaviors are particularly good at filling voids because they’re immediately accessible and quickly rewarding.

Common Cross-Addictions in Recovery

Food and Sugar

This is probably the most common transfer addiction, and there are good reasons why.

Why food is so common:

• Sugar creates a dopamine response
• Food is legal, accessible, and socially acceptable
• Eating provides immediate comfort
• No one questions you having dessert
• Brain chemistry changes make you crave sugar intensely in early recovery

Warning signs of food addiction:

• Eating when not hungry, especially in response to emotions
• Hiding food or eating secretly
• Continuing to overeat despite negative consequences (weight gain, health issues)
• Feeling out of control around certain foods
• Using food to numb feelings the way you used alcohol
• Obsessive thoughts about food
• Shame and guilt about eating

Important note: Eating more sweets in early recovery is normal and okay. Many treatment centers even encourage it (better sugar than alcohol). Transfer addiction is when food becomes a new obsession that’s causing harm.

Exercise

Exercise is healthy, right? Yes, but like anything, it can become an addiction.

Why exercise becomes addictive:

• Releases endorphins (natural high)
• Provides sense of control
• Measurable progress and achievement
• Praised by others
• Fills time
• Can be used to punish yourself or control weight

Warning signs of exercise addiction:

• Exercising despite injury or illness
• Extreme anxiety or irritability if you miss a workout
• Exercise interfering with work, relationships, or responsibilities
• Constantly increasing intensity or duration
• Using exercise to “earn” food or “burn off” calories obsessively
• Exercising to exhaustion regularly
• Entire identity wrapped up in fitness

The distinction: Healthy exercise improves your life. Compulsive exercise controls your life.

Shopping and Spending

Retail therapy can spiral into retail addiction.

Why shopping becomes addictive:

• Provides immediate dopamine hit
• Offers escape and distraction
• Creates temporary excitement
• Fills emotional voids
• Easy to rationalize (“I deserve this”)
• Online shopping makes it even more accessible

Warning signs:

• Shopping when stressed, anxious, or bored
• Buying things you don’t need or can’t afford
• Hiding purchases from family
• Financial problems from spending
• Guilt and shame after shopping
• Unable to stop despite consequences
• Items piling up unused with tags still on

Gambling

Whether it’s casinos, sports betting, online gambling, or day trading stocks, gambling can become a severe addiction.

Why gambling is dangerous:

• Huge dopamine spikes
• Variable reward schedule (most addictive type)
• Illusion of control
• Temporary escape
• Can destroy finances quickly

Warning signs:

• Gambling with money you can’t afford to lose
• Chasing losses
• Lying about gambling
• Neglecting responsibilities
• Increasing amounts to get same excitement
• Inability to stop despite financial problems

Technology and Gaming

Screen addiction is increasingly common and particularly insidious because it’s so normalized.

Forms it takes:

• Compulsive social media use
• Video game addiction
• Internet addiction
• Online pornography
• Binge-watching shows

Warning signs:

• Hours disappearing into screens
• Neglecting responsibilities
• Difficulty being present with others
• Anxiety when not connected
• Using screens to avoid feelings
• Sleep problems from late-night use
• Withdrawal from real-life activities

Other Substances

Switching from alcohol to another substance is still addiction.

Common switches:

• Marijuana (“it’s not as bad as alcohol”)
• Prescription pills (pain medication, anxiety medication)
• Over-the-counter medications (cough syrup, etc.)
• Caffeine in extreme amounts
• Nicotine (vaping, smoking)

Remember: If you’re using any substance compulsively to change how you feel, you’re not addressing the underlying addiction patterns.

Work and Achievement

Workaholism can be praised in our culture, making it particularly hard to recognize.

Warning signs:

• Working excessive hours voluntarily
• Inability to relax or take time off
• Using work to avoid feelings or relationships
• Identity entirely wrapped up in achievements
• Anxiety when not productive
• Relationships suffering
• Health declining

The Difference Between a Healthy Coping Mechanism and a Cross-Addiction

How do you know if your new behavior is a healthy replacement or a problem?

Healthy Coping Mechanism:

• Improves your life overall
• You can take it or leave it
• Doesn’t interfere with responsibilities
• Others don’t express concern
• You can talk about it openly
• Has natural limits
• Enhances other areas of life
• You do it for positive reasons (health, joy, connection)

Cross-Addiction:

• Causes problems in your life
• You feel compelled to do it
• Interferes with work, relationships, or health
• You hide or lie about it
• You feel shame about it
• Keeps escalating
• Isolates you from others
• You do it to escape or numb feelings

The litmus test: Does this behavior serve you, or are you serving it?

How to Prevent and Address Cross-Addiction

Address the Underlying Issues

This is the most important factor. You need to understand and heal what drove your alcohol addiction in the first place.

Work on:

• Trauma: Past abuse, neglect, loss, or traumatic events
• Mental health: Depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder
• Emotional regulation: Learning to feel and process emotions without escaping them
• Life skills: Stress management, conflict resolution, communication
• Self-worth: Building authentic self-esteem not based on achievement or numbing

Professional help is usually necessary for this work. Therapy (especially trauma-informed therapy, CBT, or DBT) helps you address root causes rather than just swapping symptoms.

Build a Life Worth Living

The best prevention for cross-addiction is creating a life so full of genuine meaning and connection that you don’t need to escape it.

Focus on:

• Relationships: Build authentic connections with people
• Purpose: Find work, volunteering, or activities that feel meaningful
• Hobbies: Discover interests that engage you (not just distractions)
• Growth: Learn new skills, explore new ideas
• Contribution: Help others, make a difference
• Joy: Pursue experiences that bring real pleasure

When your life feels full and meaningful, the pull toward addictive behaviors decreases significantly.

Learn to Sit with Discomfort

A huge part of recovery is learning that you can tolerate uncomfortable feelings without escaping them.

Practice:

• Mindfulness and meditation
• “Urge surfing” (observing cravings without acting on them)
• Sitting with emotions for 10-15 minutes before reacting
• Journaling about feelings instead of numbing them
• Talking about difficult emotions with supportive people
• Accepting that discomfort is temporary

The paradox: When you stop running from discomfort, it becomes more manageable.

Create Balance in All Areas

Addiction is often about extremes. Recovery means finding balance.

Work on balance with:

• Work and rest
• Socializing and solitude
• Activity and stillness
• Giving and receiving
• Structure and flexibility
• Thinking and feeling

Recovery isn’t about white-knuckling abstinence. It’s about building a balanced, sustainable life.

Stay Connected and Accountable

Isolation breeds addiction. Connection is the antidote.

Maintain connection through:

• Recovery meetings (AA, SMART Recovery, etc.)
• Therapy (individual and/or group)
• Honest relationships with friends and family
• Recovery community and support groups
• Sponsor or recovery coach
• Online recovery communities

Be honest about new behaviors. If you’re spending hours on your phone, binge eating, or obsessively exercising, talk about it. Secrets keep you sick.

Monitor Your Behaviors

Pay attention to what you’re doing and why.

Ask yourself regularly:

• Am I using this behavior to escape or numb?
• Is this improving my life or creating problems?
• Am I being honest about this behavior?
• Would I be comfortable with others knowing about this?
• Is this taking up more time/energy than it should?
• Do I feel out of control with this?

Track patterns with SobrMate. Being aware of your behaviors helps you catch problems early.

What to Do If You’ve Developed a Cross-Addiction

If you recognize yourself in these patterns, don’t panic. This doesn’t mean you’ve failed at recovery.

Acknowledge It Without Shame

Beating yourself up makes it worse. Shame drives addictive behavior. Acknowledge what’s happening with self-compassion.

Instead of: “I’m such a failure, I can’t even recover right.”

Try: “I’m struggling with a new addictive behavior. This is common in recovery, and I can address it.”

Get Help

Just like with alcohol, you don’t have to handle this alone.

Seek support from:

• Your therapist or counselor
• Recovery groups
• Support groups for the specific addiction
• Friends in recovery
• Treatment programs if needed

Don’t minimize it. Food addiction, gambling addiction, sex addiction, etc. are real addictions that benefit from professional treatment.

Apply Recovery Principles

The tools that help with alcohol addiction work for other addictions too.

Use:

• Identifying triggers
• Developing coping strategies
• Building support network
• Addressing underlying emotions
• Creating accountability
• Taking it one day at a time
• Celebrating progress

Address the Dopamine Issue

Your brain is still healing from alcohol’s impact on your reward system. Support healthy dopamine production:

Natural dopamine boosters:

• Regular exercise (moderate, not excessive)
• Sunlight exposure
• Quality sleep
• Protein-rich foods
• Meditation
• Listening to music
• Accomplishing small goals
• Acts of kindness
• Genuine social connection

Give It Time

Recovery is a process. Your brain needs time to heal and rebalance. Cross-addiction often improves as your sobriety time increases.

Timeline:

• First 3 months: Dopamine system severely depleted (high cross-addiction risk)
• 3-6 months: Natural dopamine production increasing
• 6-12 months: Reward system much more balanced
• 1-2 years: Brain functioning closer to normal

Be patient with yourself. You’re healing from years of damage. It takes time.

The Goal Isn’t Perfection

Recovery isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being honest, aware, and willing to address problems when they arise.

Some people develop minor cross-addictions in early recovery and they resolve naturally as the brain heals. Others need to actively address new addictive patterns. Both are normal parts of the recovery process.

What matters:

• You’re aware of your behaviors
• You’re honest about what’s happening
• You’re willing to get help when needed
• You’re working on underlying issues
• You’re staying connected to support

Your Recovery Is Still Real

Having a cross-addiction doesn’t invalidate your sobriety from alcohol. You’ve accomplished something huge by quitting drinking. Now you’re learning to address the deeper patterns that drive addictive behavior.

This is actually progress. You’re not just replacing one substance with another mindlessly. You’re becoming aware of your patterns and working to heal the root causes. That’s real recovery.

Track your journey honestly. Download SobrMate to celebrate your sobriety while staying aware of new patterns that might need attention.

Related Articles:

• Understanding Addiction: The Neuroscience Explained Simply
• Depression and Alcohol: Breaking the Cycle
• Nutrition for Recovery: Foods That Support Healing

Recovery is a journey, not a destination. Keep going. Keep growing. Keep being honest. You’ve got this.