Seamus O'Connor LMFT
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Career ConsultantCertified Life CoachAddiction Recovery Specialist
ph: 760.560.7545
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An Invitation to Open-minded Search for Answers
In our experience, persons who’ve been forced by others to admit they have an addiction problem are off to a poor start. Not only does this approach provoke a natural resistance from most adults, but it also tends to obscure the facts of the situation.
On the other hand, a mature adult by definition is one who is would want to discover whether or not she or he has an addiction problem.
There are few things that can undermine one’s efforts towards career, family, health and financial security to the same degree as an addiction to alcohol or other mood altering drugs. Similarly, any of the other addictions, such as: gambling, debt-ing, anorexia/bulimia, pornography, etc. are potentially destructive to our life goals.
It should be emphasized too that not all drinking or drug use problems are addiction or alcoholism. Many problems that have been caused or aggravated by alcohol or drug use can be improved by less drastic methods than are indicated for addicts or alcoholics. For non-alcoholics, such methods as cutting back, abstaining for a time, limiting occasions when one indulges, e.g. after work or weekends, can be a great help.
It is important, therefore, that a person knows where their problem lies on the spectrum of problems that can be attributed to alcohol or drug use.
If your world is already collapsing down around your shoulders as the result of your alcohol or drug use, it is probably easy to see that any further drinking or drug use is inadvisable – to say the least. In such a case help is urgently recommended.
However, you or a loved one may have been experiencing more subtle changes in the quality of life, such as: atypical unreliability, financial difficulties, unaccustomed emotional disturbance (e.g. anxieties and depression), relationship or legal problems. In such a case, if there is alcohol or another drug in regular use, the prudent response would be to take a careful look to see if there is a cause/effect relationship between this and the changes in life quality.
I Cannot Afford to be Wrong about Something like this
If you are having concerns of this nature about your own alcohol/drug use or those of a loved one, we invite you to use the following brief questionnaire.
SELF-ASSESSMENT
“SIGNIFICANT-OTHER” CHECK LIST
SCORING
CONGRATULATIONS
on bringing an open-mind to this important and difficult matter
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ph: 760.560.7545
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