How Do You Spot Signs Of Addiction And How To Take Action

Addiction is a worldwide disease that is becoming increasingly equal amongst men and women. One hundred years ago this horrible disease affected mainly men but nowadays it is on the rise to ruin women and families as well. Addiction is cunning, baffling and powerful and does not differentiate between sex, race, socio economic status, career or anything in between. Signs of addiction are easy to spot if you pay close attention to the people you love but can be much harder to notice if it isn’t someone close to you. We should all strive to end addiction and help families stay together and not be torn apart by this life threatening disease. These are some signs of addiction and what you can do about them to assist others in staying alive.

We often can see early signs of addictive behaviors when it directly starts to affect our lives with the ones we love most. For example, when dating or married to someone with an addictive personality or a drug or alcohol addiction you will begin to see signs almost immediately in most cases. For example, people addicted to sex cannot go without it and will probably pressure you to perform sexual acts, scenarios and fantasies until that becomes a reality and they must have sex quite often. This addiction cannot be hidden because they are addicted to it and must have their needs met on a daily or very regular basis. If someone is addicted to alcohol and drugs they will be displaying “weird” behaviors such as hiding their addictions because of shame, guilt, addiction itself and they don’t want you to find out about it because then more than likely you will make them stop “using” or give them an ultimatum.

Signs of addiction are as follows; someone continuously hides the amount of substances they are using, consuming or watching and acting upon (such as sex or porn). They have been told by piers, colleagues, family or friends that they use too much or consume a lot of alcohol and should really cut back on their consumption amount. There have been DUI’s, they have been laid off because of “using” on the job, tons of failed relationships or having a lot of trouble maintaining relationships or formulating long lasting loving ones because addictions take over their life and interfere with their “using” habits. They don’t show up for important events and keep to themselves on a regular basis and feel that is ok and not alarming to themselves. Users continue using others to feed their addictive behaviors and don’t worry about hurting others in the process. People with addictive personalities will continue to promise to stop their “using” or cut back significantly and almost always break their promises because their disease takes over and they cannot stop on their own.

I recommend keeping you and your kids safe at all costs so if someone in your home is “using” or abusing alcohol then make sure they are not abusing you or I suggest getting them to leave immediately. Encourage them to stop and pick up pamphlets on the AA (alcohol anonymous program) and NA (narcotics anonymous) and strongly encourage someone from one of the programs to reach out and talk with your significant other. Please advise them to speak to the person with an addiction and have them tell their story and how these specific programs have saved their lives and what the process is to get clean and sober or stop the sexual or eating addictions for good. Please do not be their enabler and enhance the addictive behavior they have or are trying to maintain. You must help them and show them a better way of life and encourage them in making healthier decisions. More times than not only when they hit rock bottom and they have lost almost completely everything and everyone do people decide to do something differently because they have to. If nothing changes then nothing changes and the vicious cycle will continue until they have had enough of their poor decision making skills and negative consequences. Most addicts push everyone away because of their (unconscious) selfish ways, addiction destroys and most of the time it is not a conscious decision. These kinds of people need help and they end up pushing away everyone that loves them only to feel more lonesome and increase their addictions to numb and fill voids they are not currently receiving.

The negative cycles and negative habit forming ways people have can be helped and broken by living healthy lifestyles and making good choices. I recommend really getting to know someone prior to dating and marriage because it only takes a short while to trust and a lifetime of heartache that can occur with addiction. You have a choice to help others with addictions, but just know it won’t be easy dealing with emotions that arise throughout the process of. You can see that addiction is a horrible disease that is not easy to deal with but I am hopeful you will use my suggestions if the need should arise. Be well and choose a life of greatness while you live vibrantly. I believe in you and take massive action for powerful results.