If you’re wondering whether you have an addiction (SUD), or you just want to confirm you’re in the right place exploring hope-rich recovery, see if any of these apply to you:
- I’m never satisfied with one drink or hit. It only begins an endless chain of craving more.
- I am compulsive and relentless when I want something, whether it’s shoes, double-fudge ice cream, or pills. It doesn’t matter, I’m all-or-nothing to get it.
- I keep seeking the high even when the good feelings have disappeared, hoping to get them back.
- I can be self-destructive when I use drugs and alcohol.
- I don’t fit in, except with the help of alcohol or drugs.
- I feel like I am too sensitive.
- I am tortured by loneliness.
- I am viciously hard on myself.
- My mind is chaotic. There are far too many thoughts competing for my attention all the time.
- I feel like I am never enough.
- I must have been dropped into the wrong family.
- I try hard to be perfect because I’m sure that if I’m perfect, you will approve of me.
Did you check several? If yes, please consider reaching out to a resource listed here.
Even if you only checked the first descriptor, #1, that could be telling, because #1 captures our universal common ground: When we start, we can’t stop.