How to Know When it’s Time to Get Help for Addiction

Some people may ask themselves is my addiction “bad enough” to go seek help? It’s likely that if you have searched your way to find this article it may be the first step of you realizing you may need help. Addiction is actually severely undertreated as people don’t feel the need to get help until they hit rock bottom, the goal is to prevent yourself from even getting to rock bottom in the first place by recognizing it’s becoming a problem and treating it early.

You can be addicted to alcohol, drugs, or even high risk activities like gambling or engaging in unsafe intercourse. Usually you get the sense for how bad this addiction is getting when it starts to affect your relationships, work and overall life. To understand the severity of your addiction we look at these elements:

• Lack of control over yourself and your life
• Desire and awareness towards wanting to quit but unable and feeling helpless
• Cravings
• Lack of responsibility 
• Problems with relationships
• Loss of interest in things you used to be interested in or loss of interest for life in general
• Dangerous use of substances
• Worsening situations
• Tolerance
• Withdrawal symptoms occurring

Depending on how many of these elements are relevant to you you can rate how severe your addiction is. If you feel all of these are applicable to you it’s likely the addiction is quite severe. If you feel even one you should still look into getting help before things get worse. If you have experienced addiction for a long time some of these symptoms may just feel like normal life and like it doesn’t need to be treated, but this isn’t how life should be, and it doesn’t have to be.

If you are still unsure about whether or not you are displaying signs of addiction, family or friends aren’t always the best to consult. You know your situation the best and you can be the most honest with yourself, however the best thing to do is to consult a professional. It doesn’t hurt to pick up the phone and just talk about your experience, it seems daunting but you won’t ever regret it, and your friends and family will be thankful you did it too.

Even if your life seems seemingly put together on paper, a “stable” family unit, a high end professional job, lots of friends, it doesn’t reflect the struggle that’s going on inside. Things don’t crash and burn overnight, addiction catches up to you when ignored.

So what do you do if you suspect addiction may be creeping up on you or already affecting your life negatively and you may need to talk to someone or get help?

You contact a place that specializes in Addiction. A place that can help you with a supervised medical detox, a place to get away from temptations, and target the underlying issues that contributed to addiction in the first place. A place like UMATTER.CARE can cater to these needs. Please don’t hesitate to contact us or reach out even just to talk, it costs nothing. We can figure this out together, you are not alone!

Email us: info@muskokarecovery.ca Or call us at 1-866-942-0852