10 Signs That Indicate You Need Help For Addiction
Addiction affects people of all ages, gender, and socioeconomic status. Therefore, at the first signs that someone is developing this type of disorder, it is important to seek help.
However, for people not trained in the field of health, it can be difficult to know how to detect addiction disorders. Therefore, in this article We will see what are the main signs of addiction that show the need to seek professional help as soon as possible, as well as the impact they have on the life of the affected person and their environment.
Signs of addiction: when to seek professional help?
Addiction brings with it several physical, psychological and social signs that can be identified. Here we will see what they consist of, although we must keep in mind that these are guidelines to guide you and that each person is different and has their own particularities.
1. Lack of control over any substance or behavior
Abusive consumption of alcohol, stimulant drugs or other psychoactive substances, inability to resist shopping, leisure time devoted entirely to looking at a screen… They are signs that the person is seeing their freedom and autonomy conditioned for behavior that does not contribute anything positive but that becomes one of your main priorities, or perhaps even your main priority.
To know if this criterion is met or not, it is recommended that you keep track of the occasions on which this repetitive behavior appears.
2. Poor time management
The desire to satisfy the need produced by addiction cannot wait: that is one of the characteristics of any addiction disorder. That is why, in people who develop these psychological and psychiatric alterations, difficulty appears when managing time in areas of life that have nothing to do with these types of activities.
In this way, the tendency arises to become obsessed with the behavior that is the root of the addiction and the entire schedule becomes subject to improvisation in order to avoid the withdrawal syndrome in its different manifestations.
3. Family isolation
Another warning sign associated with addiction is the lack of concern and distancing from close family members, with the substance/behavior being your priority choice when deciding what to spend your time on.
After all, These needs imposed by the disorder can usually be satisfied alone apart from social interaction, and when they require the presence of someone else (for example, in gambling addiction) the treatment is superficial and limited to fulfilling very specific roles (client and service provider, or players who compete with each other, etc.).
4. Difficulties at work and/or studies or lack of interest in it
Long-term projects lose importance for the addicted person, who gives much more importance to impulses and short-term objectives (practically, linked to addiction)
Some examples of this behavior pattern are the habit of arriving late, lack of attention to the activities to be carried out, decreased performance, etc.
5. Difficulties in personal relationships (friendship or love)
In the same way that family relationships are damaged by addiction, the same happens with emotional ties of other types, such as friendships.
Addicted people frequently reach a point where they have liquidity problems, which leads them to ask for money that they sometimes cannot return, and since the priority is to be able to continue covering the need to satisfy the addiction, they find themselves in obligation to lie to cover their backs in these cases. This can lead to the destruction of relationships
6. Lack of interest in social/leisure activities
Another feature is lack of attention to healthy and pleasurable activities in life giving up social, recreational or occupational activities, to focus on the substance or behavior you have chosen;
7. Neglect in personal hygiene
Personal care is no longer important, since it requires time and addiction goes against preserving a good level of well-being in general terms, thus It makes no sense to worry about the image you give, hygiene, etc
8. Problems with physical health
Common among these problems are, for example, lack of energy and motivation, sleeping problems, weight gain or loss, difficulties with concentration and memory, mood swings, etc.
9. Drastic changes in behavior towards family and friends
For example, What is striking is the lack of interest in being with them, the irritability, the aggressiveness, the search for social isolation , etc. The person is not able to provide convincing explanations for this change in behavior, and sometimes even appears angry when asked about this.
Another sign that there is an addiction is, as we have seen before, the lack of ability to manage money, and the accumulation of debts and credits. This is an element that, as a consequence, produces the part of the deterioration in the person’s quality of life that has nothing to do with the physical deterioration directly caused by the disorder.
