Recognizing the Signs of Addiction
Read through the Quick Assessment to the right. Is addiction negatively impacting your life? These are some common symptoms of addiction problems.
Addictive behaviors cause pain, suffering, and fear for those addicted, their families, and anyone associated with them. The idea of addictions originally addressed alcohol or mood altering substances. Over the past 50 years or more, our understanding of addictions has shifted away from the substances themselves to the behaviors associated with addiction. Common addictions include: substance dependence, pornography and sex, food, work, and gambling. However, any behavior, when given too much emotional emphasis, causing our lives to become unbalanced, can be addressed as an addiction.
Quick Assessment
- Increased use to feel effects
- Experiencing withdrawal symptoms
- Unsuccessful attempts to control your use
- Spending too much time seeking or using the substance
- Neglecting your priorities
- Still using, even after negative consequences
The symptoms of addiction include:
- The person will need increased amounts of the substance or they will push their behavior further and further to achieve desired results.
- Stopping use of the substance or behavior causes discomfort or physical pain. Those addicted will often engage in addictive behavior or use to avoid this discomfort.
- The person struggling with addiction has unsuccessfully attempted to cut down or end the behavior.
- A great deal of time is used to prepare for, engage in, or recover from participating in the behavior.
- Lifestyle imbalance – Important areas of the their life (family, job, social, recreational) are neglected or changed in order to accommodate the their behavior.
- Continued behavior despite consequence – They are aware of the damage his/her behavior is doing in his/her life, but continues anyway.
The person struggling with addiction, their families, or their friends may feel that there is no way control the behavior, or the consequences of their behaviors. This is not true. People with addictions recover each and everyday. It is not easy. There are no shortcuts. But millions of people struggling with addiction have proven that it is possible to live a balanced life without the pain of acting out their addictions. Is it time for you to start addiction counseling?
If so, please come in and let us help you start the hard work of getting your life back.