9 Signs You're Becoming Addicted To Something
It's easy to talk about addiction in a throwaway manner, as if just
liking something quite a lot classifies you as an addict. Spoiler: it
doesn't. But social conceptions of how an addict looks and behaves still often look like something out of a Dickens novel, when the reality is more nebulous, less obvious, and more common. But how do you know if you're becoming addicted to something or just having a good time?
Your likelihood of becoming addicted to something is heightened if you have a family history of addiction. There's no such thing as an "addiction gene;"
it turns out that the business of inheriting vulnerability to addiction
is a very complex one, and that many genes and their expressions can
contribute to your possible genetic predisposition. The genes can get
specific, too: the University of Utah has a list of genes that influence particular addiction behaviors in mice,
from alcohol consumption to responsiveness to morphine. And even if you
do have genetic predispositions, it doesn't guarantee you'll be an
addict, as they're only responsible for about 50 percent of addictive behavior.
If
you're worried you might be dependent on something — whether it be
drugs, alcohol, sex, or anything else — here are nine common signs you may indeed be addicted.
1. You Keep Doing It Even Though There Are Clear Negative Consequences
Pursuing an addiction often means that normal warning signs, like detrimental consequences for other aspects of your life, don't have the impact they would on more regulated behavior. The addicted brain can ignore or justify the severe problems an addiction is causing, in favor of continuing the addiction. If you're still getting your fix of a substance even though you're seeing it create clear issues elsewhere (the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence names jobs, relationships, and personal health as three of the most affected areas), you may have a problem.
2. You Pass Up Social Situations Where You Can't Partake
Addicts often find that they are less interested in activities and pastimes that they once loved, purely because they don't involve the addiction. Alongside this shift in priorities, addicts also start to do something Medical News Today calls "social and recreational sacrifices," where they actively opt out of social situations where they won't have the chance to use. (Like passing up on a night with friends because you know there won't be someone to hookup with, or because they don't drink.) Addicts may also find that their attention to their need means they pay less attention to basic needs, like food and hygiene.
3. You Suffer Withdrawal If You Attempt To Stop
Withdrawal is
most well-known when it comes to substance abuse. It's essentially your
system becoming severely distressed when a drug or substance under
heavy usage is taken away abruptly, causing it to recalibrate. The
American Addiction Centers sum up the four main types of substance withdrawal:
withdrawing from heroin and prescription painkillers causes two days of
serious flu-like symptoms, cold turkey psychoactive drug addicts will
experience seizures and anxiety for weeks, while going off cocaine
causes 10 days of depression, and going off alcohol causes the famous
"tremors," which can last for up to a month. The heaviness of withdrawal
symptoms depends on the strength of your addiction, and is often deeply
unpleasant.
4. You Attempt To Keep Your Use Secret
This actually tends to be a sign for others in your family or circle of friends, rather than one you may notice yourself. The Mayo Clinic lists being secretive about your space, activities and/or relationships as a problematic signal that may indicate some kind of addiction problem; it's quite common for an addict to sense that their usage is in some way shameful or excessive and attempt to keep it private or away from judgement or interference.
5. Your Tolerance Is Increasing
Tolerance isn't necessarily your body's ability to "take" a large amount of something; it's more about the relationship between the quantity of an addictive substance or behavior and the reaction it creates. As addicts progress into an addiction, their body gets accustomed, and requires more and more of the addictive thing to get them the same high as when they started. The NCADD calls this "adaptation," but it can be difficult for addicts to keep track of the rising amounts required to create the same effects.
6. You Can't Seem To Stop Yourself
"The cardinal symptom of addiction," says Psychology Today,
"is the inability to limit use of a substance or activity beyond need
leading to clinically significant impairment." Addiction is essentially
an interference with your impulse control: even if you want to limit
your own behavior, and try your best to stop yourself or put down
limits, you can't seem to control yourself properly any more. The
addiction is calling the shots, and negates your self-control.
7. You Take Risks And Make Disproportionate Sacrifices For It
The increased capacity of the addicted brain to take risks to get a hit is one of the most studied bits of addiction; a February 2016 study actually found that the structure of drug-addicted brains in particular become wired differently, making them much more likely to take incredible risks to reach their high or maintain a supply. The addicted brain has a much lower problem with risk than a normal one: it'll convince you that it's a good idea to steal a friend's bottle of whisky, or nab $20 from your roommate's purse or play poker online till 4 a.m. when you've got a job interview the next day.
8. You Make Excuses When Other People Act Concerned
Healthline highlights the "tendency to make excuses"
as one of the key characteristics of an addict. "Despite the concern of
friends and family, an addict will almost always deny the seriousness
of his or her addiction," it says. "Making excuses is common among
addicts. Whether they know they are addicted or not, they will deny it
to others. The person will usually have a number of reasons to excuse
their behavior." Admitting that there's an issue will likely lead to the
end of the addiction, and the addicted brain is deeply averse to that
happening, so it will justify the addictive behavior in any way
possible, even in flimsy or illogical ways.
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