What Are The Signs Of Addiction

The word addiction used to be reserved for problems like drug abuse and alcoholism. Today, the word is used for many other things that people seem to find hard to give up. The jury is out on whether something like Internet addiction is real, but what most know is that there are some things in this world that when overused, cause huge problems with relationships. Some people break the law and neglect themselves and everyone else around them to feed their addition. No matter what you call it, look for the signs of addiction if you think there could be a problem with you or someone you love.

Some of the more obvious signs of addiction are hard to miss. These are things like stealing from strangers and loved ones alike to feed a habit. This usually happens with drugs and drinking, but can also happen with nicotine addiction and a shopping addiction. People get something from their addiction hat their brain thinks that they need. Shopping may not sound like something someone would be addicted to, but there is a feel good chemical that is released in the body while shopping that some seek out. They may steal so that they can shop some more.

Constantly giving up or not showing up for events that one used to love is another of the signs of addiction. Someone may miss family gatherings, anniversary celebrations, or perhaps their weekly book club because their addiction has erased all the fun from everything else they use to do. Someone with a so-called Internet addiction may be on their computer day in and day out and will not eat with their family or go out of the house. If the power or Internet were to go out, they would become very desolate and edgy. It may not be a real addiction, but it certainly is a problem.

Other signs of addiction may means someone is cranky, mean, and nasty when not normally so. This type of personality change is very noticeable once an addiction takes hold. You may feel that you are not talking to the person that you know, which is sometimes the case when talking about drug addition. When a person has an addiction it is all that they can think about, thus they may treat other differently that are not helping them with getting what they need to feed that need for whatever it is they cannot get enough of at any given time.

Often, signs of addiction not of a mind altering variety, may be as apparent to the person with the addiction as the person watching them. At times, someone knows they have a shopping problem when they have thousands in unpaid credit cards and they keep spending. The Internet addict may be well aware of how long they are online. They may not care. If someone's addiction is real or not matters less than the impact of the behavior. If someone is hurting you with any obsession or addiction, the choice is going to be yours whether you can stick it out or not. If someone is hurting you, you are under no obligation to put up with it.