Your not the only one looking for answer for this question. Many of the individuals that I’ve helped over the years have started with, and sometimes return to this question. Today I am reviewing ways of helping you answer this question for yourself. By the end of this post you will have a better understanding of what impact addiction has on your life and some ways to help.
What Is Addiction?
Before jumping into the warning signs, I thought it best to start with some basics of addiction (also referred to as a substance use disorder for substances, gambling disorder for gambling etc).
An important part of the meaning of addiction is that there are brain circuit changes and behavior changes that continue even when not taking the drug or engaging in the addictive behavior. There is a return to the behavior, even if the person wants to reduce or stop that behavior. More information about the brain can be found on National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Another important thing to consider is that addiction often continues because it feels like a solution to a problem, rather than being a problem. People find themselves self medicating for anxiety or using it to become social at parties. The downside to this comes when individuals don’t address use until life becomes unmanageable. The relapse syndrome is a helpful read for more.
The last thing on addiction is the old question of is it a disease or a choice. This would be a good topic for another post as it is very complex and too much for here. I believe choice is much more complicated than many realize, there is a point where addiction becomes a disease process. For a more real life explanation of this process, check out this documentary, Pleasure Unwoven, it does a fantastic job exploring this question of choice versus disease.
5 Warning Signs And What To Look For
There are many signs and symptoms that you can notice when looking for issues with addiction. There is stigma attached to the words addiction and problem, when you are reviewing these signs keep an open mind and try not to focus on the word “problem” or “addiction”. Just think about the impact on your life. From here on out I’ll use the term substance use disorders exclusively instead of addiction. My hope is this change in language can reduce some stigma that you maybe feeling for yourself or your loved ones.
Warning Sign # 1 – Guilt
Are you stuck on repeat asking yourself “Why did I do that”? Do you find yourself running scenes through your head over and over again. That is likely feelings of guilt over actions done while on the substance or the next day after use. We’ve all been there in life, made a bad choice or mistake and then here comes that nasty feeling of guilt. This feeling is normal part of life, its a signal for us to make changes because our actions and beliefs don’t match.
Guilt comes and goes, but what to watch out for with substance use disorders is that it keeps coming back and you keep returning to using substances. Guilt may not even be about the same type of behaviors, but it starts to come more and more frequently around substance use. Some of the things that can trigger guilt are: spending too much money, staying out too late, getting into fights with love ones, saying something impulsive, injuries and loosing items.
Guilt can also turn into shame. Feelings of shame can leave individuals feeling worthless, helpless and isolated. Good information on guilt and shame, plus some tips to help with coping skills, can be found Here.
Warning Sign # 2 – Loss Of Interest
There is one thing substance use disorders are good at, that is taking over interests. That can eventually consume your life. Loss of interest in hobbies, lost time with love ones, or even ending your pursuit of career goals. All of these things can happen when substance use begins to interfere with your life. Sometimes this doesn’t completely become a loss of interest but a drift away from things that are important to you or putting goals on the backburner.
What this starts to look like is: projects are left unfinished, good friends or family are seen less and less, you can’t remember the last time you went to some of your favorite places, and you stop doing activities that you use to dearly love. This drift away from interests are related to the use of the substance. You may find that you have new hobbies or interests but they are centered around the substance you are using.
One easy example of this is you miss going to church frequently, due to hangovers, even though your faith is important to you. Another example is that you use to spend time with grandma on the weekends, but now you spend more time with your friends, who you are using with instead. My last example is one that I hear often, especially with alcohol. You may no longer driving at night or leave the house at all knowing that you don’t want to drive while intoxicated or high.
Warning Sign # 3 – More Than Intended
Having more than intended is another example I think everyone can relate to in some sense. Just think back to maybe a Thanksgiving or Christmas day feast when you just wanted to try a little bit of everything, but by the end of the day you were in a food coma or had to loosen a belt notch. There can be some similarity at the beginning with substance use, but these events happen much more frequently.
More than intended isn’t just about the amounts consumed, it can be amount of time spent using. A classic example of amounts consumed is you have the intention to have “just one,” but then you have many more. A time example looks like the intention of being home and in bed by 10 p.m., but you stay out until 2 a.m. instead. You may catch yourself saying, I will only use “just when,” frequently.
When this warning sign starts to show up, it is what we call loss of control or ability to limit. It can be much easier to see an issue when you feel like you can’t stop using at all. I often see cases of substance use disorders in individuals who are beginning to lose the ability to regulate use amounts.
Warning Sign # 4 – Annoyed By Others Regarding Your Use
Do you find yourself being angry when someone provides criticism about your substance use? Another common version of this is you will become defensive with protests or corrections when others talk about your substance use. It is human nature to protect yourself when you are being attacked.
Different people react to criticism or questions about behavior differently, depending on their past experiences, so it maybe useful to review how you react to others who talk about your behavior. Often times others can see behavior that is problematic well before we do; just think about any time you’ve made comments or thought about how others are acting. I am not one to suggest that we should worry about what others think of us, however it is often a warning sign that something needs to change if we are hearing a broken record about something. Its more worrisome if its not just a broken record from one person, but we are hearing comments about our substance use from multiple people.
What’s happening here is that when you are starting to develop a substance use disorder, there becomes a brain shift and the substance use becomes a projection of who you are and you can begin to protect it fiercely. So here comes the brain again; there is growing evidence that changes in the brain account for this and can explain this and denial. More on denial and mention of the brain functions can be found here on Psychology Today .
Warning Sign # 5 – Stress
Yes stress. We all have it and experience stress and we can have good days and bad days. What you want to look at here is: how do you react to stress, what do you think about stress and how do you manage stress?
If your reaction to a long day is, “I need a drink,” this is a red flag. Substance use can be used as a distraction from stress and used as a means to cope with stress. You may need to worry if it starts to become the first thing you think of during moments of stress or if your go to solution to stressful days is that substance.
When substance use disorders start to develop, they begin to take away our ability to cope with stress without the substance. Using a substance can start to become a response to stressful events rather than a planned activity. This becomes a slippery slope that leads to your brain bypassing its thinking and planning processes. It jumps right into the emotional response area instead. This explains why people with substance use disorders use at inappropriate times. For example, going out and using the night before an important event.
Conclusions
These are just a few signs of a possible substance use disorder. If some, or all, of these warning signs hit home for you, it could be worth your time to explore further the idea of having a substance use disorder. As I mentioned above, leave out the term “problem,” I find that it is much more productive to talk about the impact on your life rather than identify things as a “problem.”
Quality of life is important to most of us. When substance use changes your quality of life, seeking counseling can help. Early intervention can even prevent further development of a substance use disorder. I have spoken to many that sought counseling as a means of prevention instead of seeking counseling for treatment.
You can reach out to me here if you want to seek counseling and live in North Carolina. I see people in person in the Wilmington NC area and tele-health for the rest of the state. If you live elsewhere, and have concerns, reach out to a helpline, counselor or sponsor to discuss your concerns.
If you want more information about addiction and recovery, I have more links below.
Resources:
Substance abuse & Mental Health Services Administration
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Matrix Model client handbook. This is a good source for worksheets and information regarding treatment
Pleasure Unwoven This is a good movie for more understanding and can also be helpful for your family.
