Your Voice Counselling, Bristol: The 9 Signs of Addiction

What is Addiction?

Addiction is a word that can cover a huge variety of behaviours, from using Facebook to taking cocaine. At the same time, there is confusion about what an addiction actually is, or what the signs of addiction actually are. 

The problem is that denial, defensiveness, and fear are often factors for people who may be addicted. This makes identifying addiction a tricky process. 

So, to make things clear, here are the 9 main signs of addiction. 

The 9 Signs of Addiction

1. No Control: You feel like you have to do or take whatever it is you're addicted to. So, maybe you say I'm not using Facebook tomorrow'. But when tomorrow comes, you just have to use it. So, you do. You're compelled to do it. 
   
   
2. No Choice: You don't choose to do it, you find yourself doing it. You might not even notice you're doing it. It's that moment you realise your having a cigarette, or on Facebook, or whatever, and you haven't really made a choice to do so. It just happened.
   
   
3. Needing More: You find yourself doing it over and over, more and more, or in higher intensities, to get a better kick or high. Whatever it is - social networking, food, exercise, porn. You keep coming back for more, because you want another kick. Escalation, increasing the dose of the addiction, is common here.
   
   
4. Use: You indulge regularly when you want to manage boredom, loneliness, tiredness, anger, pain, self-hate, stress, or any other unpleasant feeling. So, smokers claim having cigarette helps them relax. Video game addicts claim video games helps them "switch off". 
   
   
5. Dependence: You feel you couldn't cope without it. This fear of not being able to cope can often lead to denial.
   
   
6. Time: A lot of your time is spent either indulging the addiction or trying to fight it. Often this can result in thoughts during indulgence, such as 'I really should be doing X, Y, or Z' or even 'I'd really like to do A, B or C' such as 'I really should go to bed now'. However, the addictive behaviour continues on regardless.
   
   
7. Obsessive: You put lots of emotional and mental energy into hiding, handling, indulging, or struggling with the addiction. The addiction is always on your mind. 
   
   
8. Energy: You end up tired, even 'frazzled,' after spending a lot of your energy on indulging the addiction instead of doing other, more nourishing or relaxing activities.
   
   
9. Disruption: The addiction affects your self-esteem, family relationships, social, love or work life, while also impacting on your physical and mental health.
   

Are you Addicted?

The above signs of addiction can be applied to a wide variety of possible behaviours, from watching TV to smoking cannabis, from drinking alcohol to going to the gym, from work to looking at pornography. Addiction comes in many forms, but most addictions will end up showing many of the above signs. Addictions don't have to be chemical, like drugs, they can also be emotional or even purely habitual. In many cases, it's a combination of all three.

What Next?

There are many forms of support for people struggling with addiction. From abstinence-based groups like the AA to addiction counsellors, there's a wide variety of options out there to explore. 

If you live in Bristol and wish to seek counselling-based addiction support, you can arrange an appointment to see me. Go to my contact me page for ways to get in touch. If you live in the UK and want to seek counselling support, you can go to the BACP's Find a Therapist website for help finding a counsellor in your local area.  

Alternatively, you can contact your local GP or Medical Practitioner for advice on services available in you local area.

Resources

As a starting point when it comes to addiction, you may find the following books useful. The are highly recommended by people working with mental health and addiction, including myself:

Further Resources on Addiction

A small collection of resources on addiction including more books suggestions, links to websites, social media and more, is available here. 

Recovery is Possible
Recovery Happens

Authored by John McGuirk, Your Voice Counselling, Bristol