Published on: 29 March 2019
Last Updated on: 29 November 2021
Dabbling in addictive substances is something, unfortunately, that many of us do. For reasons specific to each person, the way that those drugs affect us is always different. There are several aspects to hinter you how to know if you have an addiction in your body.
Sometimes environmental factors contribute to our abuse, and sometimes biological differences make individuals have a harder time getting off of a substance. In any case, it’s important to know when an issue is forming.How to know if you have an addiction
If you’re wondering how to know if you have an addiction, we have some tips for you to look over.
How to Know if You Have an Addiction:
We’ll go through some of the most common signs of addiction. Hopefully, our list will give you a better understanding of where you stand.
1. You Sacrifice for the Substance:
One common sign of addiction is that the user will give up things they love to use. Things that you love could be a number of things, and a lot of those things will be mentioned later in the article.
The point here, though, is that an addicted person will often put their drug of choice above things that they valued highly when they were sober.
2. You Haven’t Been Able to Stop:
Sure, it’s really hard to stop something if you’re addicted. Many people, however, don’t take the time to stop because they aren’t aware that they have a problem.
If you’ve been using for a long period of time without stopping, why haven’t you stopped? Have you been thinking about stopping but are yet to try?
Give it a shot and see if you can stop using.
3. Dropping Responsibilities:
If you have obligations to your job, family, and friends, beware if you start blowing them off to use.
Addiction often leads a person to ignore essential responsibilities such as picking up a child from school.
4. You Have Withdrawals:
If you have to stop using your drug of choice, you may notice that you have intense physical cravings. These may also lead to painful, agonizing withdrawals that only seem to stop if you use again.
This is a good sign that you should seek help for your substance abuse because many people find that withdrawals are too painful to go through without help.
It’s essential to go through these to get clean, though. So, how long does a drug detox take? It depends on the drug, but you’re going to feel a lot better when it’s through.
5. You’re in Financial Trouble:
Another large red flag is that you have put aside your financial goals, bills, and normal spending habits to make way for your substance abuse.
Depending on your circumstances, you may have enough money for this not to be an issue. Still, it is a slippery slope as you begin to use more and more.
6. Your Friends are Concerned:
It often takes people a while to confront their friends about a substance problem. If your friends are reaching out to you and asking how you’re doing, it’s likely that they see a significant change in your behavior.
7. You Rationalize Your Use:
Another common trait of someone who’s addicted is that they make excuses for why they use or when they will quit.
If your users weren’t a problem, you would be able to put the substance aside immediately to take care of your responsibilities and reclaim your relationships.
Think You Might Have an Addiction?
If you’re wondering how to know if you have an addiction, that may be a nominal sign that you should try to slow down and stop altogether. If our list has made you feel like you might have an addiction, we recommend that you contact help as soon as possible.
Visit our site to learn more about how to get clean, live a healthy lifestyle, and more.
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You might have heard the term “functioning alcoholic” and wondered what it even means. Then, you might be searching for the meaning of the term and what it means to be a functional alcoholic. Then, let’s throw some light on the meaning of functioning alcoholics for your better understanding.
We often relate alcoholism with people who are unable to function properly in their lives. This stereotype of alcoholic individuals seems to be not accurate. This is because several individuals who are alcoholics seem to function properly and deal with their daily tasks properly.
If this is the case, then why are these individuals living a regular life while being alcoholic? While other groups cannot function properly because they are constantly under influence.
Therefore, in this article, we not only discuss what is a functioning alcoholic but also how they differ from those with more visible signs of alcohol dependency.
Perception About Individuals Battling Addiction
Your concept or perception of an alcoholic will change when you learn how a functioning alcoholic person works. They are capable of living or maintaining a normal life while battling alcohol addiction.
At one glance, you might not even know this person might have an addiction. Because they can do all their daily duties smoothly. Therefore, why was this term created, which means someone who is functioning even when dealing with addiction?
This challenges the common stereotype of an alcoholic person who lives an undisciplined and disheveled life. The term “functioning alcoholic” could be used to describe a person’s condition, but it is not officially recognized.
In the field of psychiatry, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) doesn’t recognize this term officially. However, several professionals use this term to describe a specific alcoholic person’s condition.
So, understanding the phenomenon of the functioning alcoholic is important. Because it helps identify people who are going through this hardship. When you recognize a functional alcoholic, you can help them get the right treatment, which will get them better.
Functioning alcoholics often hide their struggles with addiction while maintaining a normal facade. So, it becomes harder for you to recognize them and get them correctly diagnosed. Therefore, you must read this article to know how to identify one. This is so you can help them get the right treatment for recovery.
What Is A Functioning Alcoholic?
A functioning alcoholic seems to live a normal life while dealing with alcohol addiction. These individuals, you will observe, can do all the regular tasks and maintain a lifestyle without alcohol overriding their lives.
Even if they are always under the influence, they can hold down a job and other obligations. Not only that, but they can also excel in some areas of their lives without alcohol overriding their entire life.
Therefore, it becomes hard for you to identify these individuals. Because they look perfectly normal from the outside while dealing with addiction.
These individuals know how to keep their professional and social lives separate from their addiction. You see, functional alcoholics are aware of their alcoholic addiction, which helps them hide it easily. They become skilled at hiding their shortcomings from the world.
However, this addiction of a functioning alcoholic does not affect anyone other than themselves. It does affect their own lives if kept unchecked in the long run. As they continue to hide their struggle with alcohol, it becomes much more troublesome as time goes on.
Functioning Alcoholics Live In The Grey Area Of Addiction
A functioning alcoholic lives in the grey area of addiction, where addiction coexists with competence. While they are functioning like a regular individual, they also hide their addiction from their friends, family, or colleagues.
So, they operate much more separately than an alcoholic consumed with addiction and a normal non-alcoholic.
So how will you recognize a functioning alcoholic when they are living just like any ordinary person? You see, functioning alcoholics often rationalize their drinking habits as rewards for their accomplishments.
So, if they can get their work done, they reward themselves. Again, if they do their duty towards their family, they will reward themselves with a drink.
Again, their coping mechanism for dealing with the stress of daily responsibilities is through alcohol. So, when they accomplish their responsibilities day-to-day, they reward themselves with alcohol.
But this facade of normalcy is fragile as they become more dependent on alcohol over time. As they start to deal with life problems with alcohol, this results in psychological issues.
Maintaining a long-term facade of alcohol addiction is not the only problem a functional alcoholic face but health problems, too.
High Functioning Alcoholism vs. Traditional Alcohol Use Disorder
Traditionally, you could identify an alcoholic person from their visible signs of dysfunction. These dysfunctional problems were frequent performance issues, relationship problems, and deteriorating health.
In contrast, high-functioning alcoholics may lead seemingly successful lives, masking their dependency behind a façade of competence. They may hold prestigious positions, maintain social connections, and even drink expensive wine without raising suspicion.
Despite their ability to keep up appearances, high-functioning alcoholics often deal with a significant internal struggle. They might spend considerable effort hiding the extent of their drinking from others and themselves.
This can involve elaborate routines to cover up the smell of alcohol and secret drinking sessions. Again, a functional alcoholic persistently worries about being discovered because of their addiction.
You will see that the stress of maintaining a double life can be extremely problematic in the long run. In the long-term, this coping mechanism with alcohol can only affect negatively both physically and mentally.
Along with the stress of hiding their addiction to alcohol and dealing with life’s problems, a functioning alcoholic is bound to break down at some point. This will lead to their worst fear of revealing their true nature.
It’s this dual existence that differentiates high-functioning alcoholism from other overt alcohol use disorders. Other alcohol disorders are more visible due to their impact on an individual’s life.
Recognizing The Signs of Alcohol Abuse
There are significant risks to being a functional alcoholic despite its outward appearance. Because their pattern of drinking can be more than seven drinks per week. This leads to health risks in the long term. Again, continuous dependence on alcohol to deal with life can have adverse effects on the person’s psychology.
From binge drinking episodes to the inability to stop drinking despite its negative consequences, these are some of the recognized risks of alcohol addiction. They may also experience withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit or cut back on alcohol consumption.
Recognizing signs of a high-functioning alcoholic can be challenging as they are good at hiding their addiction. Therefore, it’s essential to identify these individuals, get them diagnosed correctly, and treat them properly.
It’s important to note that these behaviors can be subtle and easily overlooked, especially when the individual is still managing to fulfill their personal and professional obligations. Over time, you will see that the consequences of high-functioning alcoholism become visible.
Be it strained relationships, personality changes, mental health issues, and physical health problems related to alcohol abuse. You will start to see its effects on a functional alcoholic.
Risk Factors and Consequences
Certain factors can increase the likelihood of high-functioning alcoholism, including genetic predisposition, environmental influences, and untreated mental health issues.
While they may avoid some of the immediate consequences associated with traditional alcoholism, such as job loss or legal troubles, high-functioning alcoholics are still at risk for severe health problems, including certain cancers and mental health issues.
These health problems can include liver disease, heart disease, and neurological impairments that may not become evident until later in life. The psychological consequences are equally concerning, potentially leading to depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders that can deteriorate the quality of life.
Moreover, high-functioning alcoholics may face social consequences over time, such as eroded trust in relationships, marital strife, and a gradual withdrawal from social activities as they prioritize alcohol over personal connections.
Despite maintaining a veneer of normalcy, the cumulative effect of these risk factors and consequences can lead to a tipping point where the individual’s ability to function at a high level is compromised.
It is crucial to recognize these long-term risks and understand that the lack of immediate, visible consequences does not diminish the urgency for intervention and treatment.
Seeking Support And Treatment For The High Functioning Alcoholic
Addressing high-functioning alcoholism requires a comprehensive approach involving medical professionals, support groups, and rehab centers in Los Angeles specializing in addiction medicine.
Loved ones play a crucial role in encouraging their family members or close relatives to seek help, but it’s essential to approach the situation with empathy and understanding. Initiating this conversation can be delicate, as it often involves breaking through a wall of denial built up by the individual over time.
Friends and family need to be informed about the nature of high-functioning alcoholism, to offer non-judgmental support, and to avoid enabling behaviors that can perpetuate the addiction.
The process of seeking support often begins with an honest self-assessment or an intervention by concerned loved ones. This step is vital in helping the individual recognize the extent of their problem and its impact on their life and the lives of those around them.
Professional interventionists can be instrumental in this phase, providing the guidance needed to navigate what can be a highly charged situation. Once the individual acknowledges the need for help, the next step involves finding the right treatment program.
Treatment can range from outpatient therapy sessions to accommodate the individual’s work schedule. Or a more intensive inpatient program where you must take a temporary step back from daily responsibilities.
The treatment choice should be tailored to the individual’s specific circumstances, considering their level of addiction, personal responsibilities, and any co-occurring mental health conditions.
Throughout the recovery journey, ongoing support is essential for maintaining sobriety. Aftercare programs and sober living communities offer continued guidance and support, helping the individual to reintegrate into their daily life with new coping skills and a renewed focus on health and wellness.
Support And Treatment Facilities
Support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous provide a vital lifeline for individuals struggling with alcohol use disorders, offering a sense of community and understanding.
These groups facilitate peer-to-peer support and shared experiences, creating a space where individuals can speak openly about their struggles without fear of judgment.
Treatment facilities offer residential treatment or outpatient tailored programs designed to address the unique needs of high-functioning alcoholics, providing medical supervision during the withdrawal process and equipping them with coping strategies for maintaining sobriety.
These facilities often employ a multidisciplinary approach, combining medical treatment, psychological counseling, and behavioral therapy to address the complex nature of addiction. The programs may include individual therapy sessions, group therapy, educational workshops on addiction, and relapse prevention planning.
In addition to traditional treatment methods, some facilities offer holistic therapies such as meditation, yoga, and art therapy, recognizing the importance of treating the whole person.
The Importance Of Mental Health Resources
Recognizing that alcoholism is not solely a physical dependency but also a mental health problem is crucial. Access to more mental health resources, including therapy and counseling, can help individuals address underlying issues contributing to their alcohol use and develop healthier coping mechanisms.
These resources are vital in treating the emotional and psychological aspects of alcoholism, which often include stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders that may co-occur with substance abuse.
By providing a supportive environment for open discussion about mental health, individuals can gain insights into the emotional triggers that lead to drinking and learn new strategies for managing these triggers.
Therapy can also assist in repairing relationships damaged by alcohol abuse, rebuilding trust, and improving communication skills. In addition, counseling can offer guidance on how to establish a balanced life. You can set achievable goals and create a supportive network that fosters their long-term recovery.
Treatment programs need to integrate mental health services as a core component of addiction recovery, called dual diagnosis treatment. This integration ensures that individuals receive a holistic approach to their treatment, addressing all facets of their well-being.
As society continues to destigmatize mental health issues, the hope is that more people will feel empowered to seek the help they need without fear of judgment or stigma.
Ultimately, enhancing the availability and accessibility of mental health resources is a critical step in supporting the recovery journey of functioning alcoholics. Their lasting sobriety helps improve their mental health issues.
High Functioning Alcoholics: Is There Such A Thing?
High-functioning alcoholics can often seem to have it all together, balancing significant responsibilities while battling their addiction in silence.
Despite heavy drinking, they are typically individuals who seem to lead productive lives. They often excel in their careers, maintain social relationships, and uphold daily routines.
This can make it difficult is difficult for others and sometimes even for the individuals themselves to recognize the problem, as their success often masks the underlying issues.
We can help individuals struggling with high-functioning alcoholism by raising awareness and providing support. This will help them regain control of their lives and improve their overall life.
How to Help a Colleague (...Who is Also Recovering)
Helping someone in recovery from alcoholism is as simple as learning the signs and subtly helping.
But remember they are on a journey, not at the destination. Part of that journey includes being open about their lives but not praying too much. A casual “How are you doing today?” can go a long way.
Be Responsible Yourself First!
Help your co-workers make healthy choices by creating a clean, responsible environment.
Don’t go to work events where the primary focus is drinking, and don’t invite them to join if you do.
Be mindful of their limits; never encourage or force them to drink more than they feel comfortable with.
If they make the choice to leave an event because others are drinking too heavily, offer to accompany them.
Find Alternative Activities
Encourage them to engage in healthy activities, even if it is during office breaks. You can go for a walk with them at lunch or get involved together in a wellness group at work.
Not only do these kinds of activities help alleviate stress, but they also give your colleague something positive to focus their energy on.
Plus, showing that you’re willing to invest in their well-being as professionally appropriate helps build a stronger working relationship between the two of you and gives them an added source of support while they recover.
Do not Get Too Personal
But still, you need to draw the line and not become too personal with them. You should only keep any conversations limited to work-related topics unless they would like to share them with you.
Be mindful of their personal space as well because, in the end, it is their own recovery.
Supporting a colleague in recovering from alcoholism requires empathy, respect, and understanding.
By being a supportive colleague, you help to not only nurture their recovery but also help foster an inclusive and compassionate workplace. Remember, it’s the little things that mean a lot.
Conclusion
It’s crucial to understand that high-functioning alcoholism is a real and serious condition. When you acknowledge its existence, you take the first step towards addressing the unique challenges it presents.
With the right resources and support systems, you can improve functioning alcoholic individuals to live a life free from alcohol. You can find them the help they need to recover from alcohol dependency.
Therefore, you need to know about functional alcoholism and identify functional alcoholic individuals.
Read Also:
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The integration of therapy and activities in residential treatment facilities is a pivotal aspect of modern mental health care. This approach combines traditional therapeutic methods with various activities, enhancing the effectiveness of treatment and providing a more holistic recovery experience for residents.
In residential treatment settings, therapy remains the cornerstone of the recovery process. This typically involves a combination of individual and group therapy sessions, utilizing various psychotherapeutic techniques and other evidence-based practices. These therapies are designed to address the underlying causes of mental health issues, helping residents develop coping mechanisms and better understand their conditions.
Integrating activities alongside therapy adds a crucial dimension to the treatment process. Activities in residential treatment facilities can range from physical exercise, such as yoga or swimming, to creative endeavors like art or music therapy.
These activities are not merely recreational; they are carefully chosen for their therapeutic benefits. For instance, physical activities can help reduce anxiety and depression symptoms, while creative therapies offer a non-verbal outlet for expression and emotional exploration.
One significant benefit of integrating activities into treatment is the enhancement of therapy effectiveness. Engaging in activities can help residents apply and reinforce the skills learned in therapy sessions. For example, participating in a group sport can improve social skills and teamwork, reflecting the interpersonal skills taught in group therapy.
Another advantage is the promotion of a holistic approach to wellness. Mental health is intrinsically linked to physical and emotional well-being. Activities like mindfulness meditation or nutritional workshops contribute to overall health, which is crucial for mental health recovery. These activities encourage residents to adopt healthier lifestyles, which can have long-lasting benefits beyond their time in the facility.
The diverse array of available activities further enhances the personalization of the treatment experience. Recognizing that residents have unique interests and respond differently to various activities, offering a wide range of options ensures that each resident can discover activities that deeply resonate with them.
This approach not only tailors the treatment experience to individual preferences but also boosts resident engagement and enjoyment, fostering a more meaningful and effective recovery journey. The variety of activities becomes a dynamic tool in creating a therapeutic environment that accommodates diverse needs and promotes holistic well-being.
Incorporating activities into residential treatment also fosters a sense of community and belonging among residents. Participating in group activities builds camaraderie and support, essential elements in the recovery journey. It creates opportunities for residents to form meaningful connections with others who share similar experiences.
Moreover, these activities provide practical skills and hobbies that residents can continue after leaving the facility. Skills learned through activities such as gardening, cooking, or painting can be valuable tools for stress management and self-care in daily life.
Integrating therapy and activities in residential treatment offers a comprehensive approach to mental health recovery. This integration enhances the effectiveness of traditional therapies, promotes holistic wellness, allows for personalization of the treatment experience, builds community, and equips residents with practical skills for life post-treatment.
What Is Integrative Therapy?
Academics have argued that psychotherapy and psychology are essentially different. According to them, treatment takes a backseat because of the insistent modalities. We define ourselves in a certain way and set up “false dichotomies when, in practice, we routinely straddle multiple approaches.”
Integration is a term that suggests the bringing together of things. When dealing with clients, it suggests that we adapt to both the needs of clients and their context by blending fragmented theoretical frameworks as well as their methods.
Human beings are complex, and they bring unique hopes, needs, and challenges to therapy. A therapist's chief challenge lies in attempting to make an honest integrative therapy that amalgamates different philosophical commitments, assumptions, and values. They must also admit that not all of these practices and theories can be compatible.
So, when integrative therapists treat their clients, they must consider the what, how, and when of integration. This would typically involve one of the four potential approaches.
Theoretical integration: Transcends the individual models by making a single model
Technical eclecticism: Combines the effective bits of different approaches
Assimilative integration: Works mainly in a single model whole, also integrating several aspects of other approaches
Common factors: Focuses on the right practices as well as elements from all approaches
History of Integrated Therapy
Human interest in therapeutic integration dates back as far as Freud and the contemporaries of the father of psychology in the early 1900s. Sandor Ferenczi, a relational psychoanalyst from Hungary, wrote a paper in 1933. He argued that instead of staying too true to the stereotypical techniques, we must take our cues from the patient and adopt the most suitable approach at a time in the best interest of the patient.
Aaron Beck claimed in 1991 that cognitive behavioral therapy could actually be integrative therapy. He said that because of the broad sweep of psychology and the resulting integration of different technical procedures, cognitive therapy is integrative therapy.
It is possible that we can challenge his claims today, but CBT is a prime example of the combination of two or more approaches. In that case, the awareness of the client’s belief system going through a change can improve the therapist’s efforts on their behavioral change.
Holistic Therapy and Integrative Therapy Partnerships
The combination of integrative therapy and holistic therapy has repeatedly proved to be effective and valuable in palliative care. It helps clients deal with their discomfort, pain, anguish, and fear related to their past, present, and future.
When traditional Western medicine cannot help the chronically and terminally ill, treatments like imagery, therapies, and meditation, along with psychotherapy, tend to offer hope for them. Their needs for peace and calm at nearly the end of their lives are met with a lot of help.
Other approaches, when combined with integrated psychotherapies, get into the details of theology, spirituality, religion, and existential motives.
Wrapping Up
Integrated therapy offers a strong and flexible approach to psychotherapy that addresses each client’s complex as well as unique needs. It aims to help create a comprehensive framework that will prioritize effective dialogue between different approaches by bringing together techniques and theories from various psychological models.
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Did you know that 6.1 percent of 8th graders, 9.6 percent of 10th graders, and 12.4 percent of 12th graders admit they have used an illicit drug recently?
With such shocking statistics, it's clear to see there is a growing problem among young people. During the troublesome teen years, it's common to experiment with new things. But this may lead your child down a dark path.
You may wonder how to tell if your child is using drugs. Fortunately, there are clear telltale signs of drug use in teens. Read on to find out if your loved one has fallen off the straight and narrow.
Telltale Signs of Drug Use in Teens:
During their teens, young people have to deal with many physical and emotional changes. This can make it difficult to pinpoint whether drug use is the problem or it's simply a case of rebelliousness.
Looking for these next four signs will help you to know for sure.
1. Use Your Senses:
When your teen comes home, what can you smell on their breath, on their clothes or in their hair? Are their eyes red with constricted pupils? Signs of crack use also include blistered lips or burnt fingers.
Your teen may also rapidly lose weight, as they will be spending their allowance on their fix instead of food. If they are inhaling drugs they may also have respiratory problems, such as coughing or constant sniffing. If they are injecting they may have track marks on their arms.
2. Behavioral Changes:
Another way to tell if someone is on drugs is if you notice their behavior has changed dramatically.
Of course, arguing, anger, and moodiness may be part of the troublesome teen years. But if you also notice them defying your house rules, disappearing for long periods of time, and other reckless behavior it may be a sign of using.
After a night out with friends, is your teen clumsy, laughing hysterically, and obnoxious? Or do they look exhausted, jittery, or queasy? These behavioral signs are common with teens who take drugs.
3. Caught in the Act:
If you find drugs in their room or on their possession you've caught them in the act. Some other drug-related paraphernalia may include:
Tiny plastic bags with powder residue
Roll-ups
Tin boxes
Syringes
Burnt teaspoons or crack pipes
If you find any of these items, try not to overreact. Confront your teen, it may be an honest mistake after all.
4. Social Changes:
Your teen's grades may be declining dramatically. Or they may keep on skipping school and other social activities that they previously enjoyed. Another sign of someone on drugs is if your teen ditches their friends to hang out with another unknown crowd.
You may also notice items or money missing from your home. This may mean your teen is stealing to fund their habit. Monitor any alcohol you have in the home as they may use it for payment.
Time to Take Action:
If you can see any or all these signs of someone on drugs, it's time to take action. Encourage them to get support from professionals.
Lincoln Nova Vital Recovery has created a unique program that can help people to recover from addiction. Find out more here.
Some Things are Worth Fighting For:
Of course, these signs of drug use in teens may vary from person to person. But one thing is for sure: they are going to need you to fight alongside them on their road to recovery.
To keep your family close-knit and strong in times of distress, check out these fundamental pillars of a happy family.
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