Addiction is a mental disorder and like any other mental disorder, it is complex and should be treated by a health professional. Addicts often put themselves in life threatening situations, and don’t always realize they are doing harm to themselves and those around them.
If you think that you, or someone close to you, might be addicted to drugs or alcohol, there are certain symptoms that you should be looking out for. Even if you don’t have all the symptoms, you could still have an addiction.
- Fluctuations is moods. Going from happy to sad to angry a lot can be a sign of addiction and are present even in the withdrawal stage.
- Tolerance. Long term drug abusers build up a tolerance, making them have to increase their dosage each time.
- Unexplainable money loss. Drugs are expensive, an addict could spend thousands of dollars a week.
- Theft. Addicts can’t always support their habits and theft is a common symptom.
- Lying and being overly secretive. More often than not addicts are ashamed of themselves and try to hide their addiction from those close to them. Whether they lie about how much they’re taking, or if they’re taking anything at all.
- Changes in friends. New and very different friends, weird phone calls at all times of the day.
- Relationship problems. Drugs and alcohol cause families to break up, friendships to be lost, often the addict wont care about these things. They will even try to get rid of those of their family and friends who try to stop them from taking drugs.
- Troubles with the law. Alcohol and drugs often lower inhibitions and people do things they wouldn’t normally do.
It is important to remember that sometimes these symptoms alone aren’t the warning signs of an addiction.