How Do I Know If I Have An Addiction?

Valium Withdrawal and Drug Detox

When someone starts using drugs, they face a high risk of succumbing to addiction. However, addiction doesn’t happen immediately and it doesn’t affect everyone equally. Genetics, your frequency and intensity of use, and other factors mean that different people have a different path toward addiction. The fact that there’s no clear dividing line that a person crosses when they become addicted can make it hard to tell how far your substance use problems have gone. However, you can look to the following signs to understand that you may be developing an addiction.

How Do I Know if I Have an Addiction?

If you’re engaging in risky behaviors with drugs, the best decision for your health and safety is to quit if possible and seek help if not. Nonetheless, you should at least be familiar with these early warning signs of addiction.

Obsession

Even people that do drugs usually don’t develop an obsession with them. If you’re often thinking about when you’ll get your next hit or frequently desire to use a substance, it’s highly likely that you’ve developed a drug addiction.

Decreased Social Engagement

When someone develops an addiction, everything seems to fade in importance next to the drug. Many things in your life might suffer, such as school grades or work performance, but one major sign of drug addiction is social withdrawal. Spending less time with friends and family, or primarily hanging out with friends to do drugs is a key warning sign.

Tolerance

If you notice that it’s taking steadily higher doses of the drug just to get the same effect, that’s a major red flag that you need to stop now. On the one hand, it indicates you may have already developed an addiction. But even if you haven’t, consuming the drug in greater quantities to keep up with your constantly rising tolerance can inevitably culminate in addiction.

Dependence

When someone grows dependent on a drug, they need to use that drug to feel good or even feel normal. Rather than feeling relatively okay when sober, being sober feels increasingly unpleasant as the person using drugs slides further into addiction. Eventually, dependence can become so severe that sobriety seems intolerable.

Withdrawal

Do you start to feel antsy, uncomfortable in your skin, or otherwise not feel good when you haven’t consumed the drug for some time? If so, you may be undergoing withdrawal symptoms. This isn’t a sign that you’ve developed an addiction, so much as proof that you certainly have. If you start experiencing withdrawals, it’s urgent that you scale back your drug usage and seek help so you can stop.

 

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At Dana Point Rehab Campuses, we’re dedicated to helping people overcome addiction and break free from the burdens of substance use. Reach out to learn more about

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