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| How To Identify Your Drug Problem |
By Jonas Smith When you use drugs, they can quickly become a problem. Addiction can happen before you know it. You need to really take a look at your drug use and be honest with yourself when evaluating whether or not that drug use has become a problem. Start by asking yourself one simple question: "Do you sometimes think you have a drug problem?" If the answer is yes, you probably do have an issue with addiction. Why?
Most of the time, drug abusers deny they have a problem, or they hide from it by making excuses. It's a natural reaction to defend yourself and your behaviors. But your defenses break down once in a while. So if you sometimes think you have a problem, you almost certainly do. Think about how you feel the morning after heavy using. Your body aches, your head is cloudy, you feel guilty for over-using and promise yourself you'll stop. You decide that you won't be using drugs that day. You feel beaten and broken and want to do something about it. Your defenses are down and you are vulnerable to your own rational thoughts. As the day goes on, though, your defenses start coming back up again and you begin excusing yourself for the previous day's binge. You start to make excuses for your over-indulgence. You tell yourself you were having a bad day, you didn't eat enough, you were really stressed out, or some other excuse. You decide to let yourself use "just a little". After all, you were having a bad day yesterday. Today won't be the same. And the cycle continues. You may go through this hundreds of time before you recognize that there's a pattern going on. Almost all drug abusers go through this cycle. When you decide to really face the possibility that you have a problem, how do you identify it? The answer is really quite simple. You have a problem when you use too much, too often, and the use is out of control. But you have to be your own judge and be honest with yourself. Pay attention to your feelings. You may want to write down how you feel about your drug use. Sometimes seeing the words can help you face the problem and start helping yourself. Let's take a look at a few questions that can help you identify if you have a drug problem. Answer the following questions honestly. Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drug use? Do you ever use drugs when you're alone? Have you ever used more of a drug than you intended in a given period of time? Have you ever used drugs for a longer period of time than you originally intended? Have you ever used more than one drug at a time? Concerning your use of drugs, has anyone ever told you that you use too much? Have you ever taken one drug to overcome the effects of another? Have you ever thought that your life might be better if you didn't take drugs? Have you ever felt angry at yourself or guilty because of your drug use? Do you regularly use a drug at certain times of the day or on certain occasions, for example, when you go to bed, when you wake up, before or after a meal, or before or after sex? Have you ever lied about your drug use to family members or friends? Have you ever lied to a doctor or faked symptoms to get prescription drugs? Have you ever stolen drugs? Have you ever stolen money or material goods that you could sell to obtain drugs? Have you ever done things to obtain drugs that you later regretted? Has your drug use ever caused problems for you with school or with work? Have you noticed that you need to use more and more of a drug to get you high? Do you experience withdrawal symptoms when you go without drugs for a few days? Do you panic when your drug supply gets low? Have you ever done something when you were high that you felt guilty about later? Have you ever gotten into fights when high on drugs? Have you ever been arrested for any drug-related activity (including possession)? Have you ever been diagnosed with a medical problem related to your drug use? Have you ever overdosed on a drug? Have you ever attended a treatment program specifically related to drug use? Have you associated with people with whom you normally wouldn't just so you could have access to drugs? Have you stopped associating with any of your friends because they don't use drugs as much as you? Learn about tv addiction and games addiction at the Addiction Facts site. |
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Mental Health Media How To Identify Your Drug Problem
Mental Health Media How To Identify Your Drug Problem