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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by SometimesBlue on August 22, 2007, at 17:25:22
I think the aubject line says it all...i know there are different views. I just want some opinions/perspectives...how DO you know id you have a problem?
-confused.
Posted by mattye on August 22, 2007, at 17:54:59
In reply to How do you know if you're an Abuser???, posted by SometimesBlue on August 22, 2007, at 17:25:22
When I was in rehab, I remember them telling me that an abuser is someone who has a problem, but hasn't crossed that line into addiction. People who are addicted have little control over their use. They have powerful compulsions to use a substance. Abusers may drink or use to excess, but can put away the bottle and not think about it. It is a grey area, and ultimately it comes down to your own assessment of yourself.
Unfortunately, because of denial, it is very hard to come clean to yourself about having a problem. When I use pain pills, I convince myself that I am only doing it recreationally, it is better than heroin, and that THIS is the LAST time. Seriously ... the last time.
But just the fact that I have to try to create these justifications means that I do have a problem. Non-addicts don't need to think like that.
> I think the aubject line says it all...i know there are different views. I just want some opinions/perspectives...how DO you know id you have a problem?
>
> -confused.
Posted by SometimesBlue on August 22, 2007, at 18:09:04
In reply to Re: How do you know if you're an Abuser???, posted by mattye on August 22, 2007, at 17:54:59
whenever i'm "under the influence" i feel like i think i have a problem..when I'm sober, i hate the idea of me having a problem....i know i use too much of whatever is at hand...swometimes i'm up soemtimes i'm down...sometimes i can't deal, other times i want so bad to be clean....and no one knows...no one. I can;t be looked at like "that person"...i can't...but i feel like i'm dying inside, and still i have a smile on my face, cuz i HAVE to be ok...
Posted by ClearSkies on August 22, 2007, at 18:24:07
In reply to Re: How do you know if you're an Abuser???, posted by SometimesBlue on August 22, 2007, at 18:09:04
> whenever i'm "under the influence" i feel like i think i have a problem..when I'm sober, i hate the idea of me having a problem....i know i use too much of whatever is at hand...swometimes i'm up soemtimes i'm down...sometimes i can't deal, other times i want so bad to be clean....and no one knows...no one. I can;t be looked at like "that person"...i can't...but i feel like i'm dying inside, and still i have a smile on my face, cuz i HAVE to be ok...
How about this: if you find you're spending a lot of time wondering whether you have a problem or not, you probably do.
I fully knew I was an alcoholic for the whole 20 years before I was ready to do something concrete about it. Talk about being a slow learner... sheesh. And I feel like I had to learn the same lesson over and over before I got it. There wasn't really a magic moment for me, when the intention to become sober became the first day, and then the second, and so on. It was a tenuous grasp for me - I had to break my days down into hours and get through those first.
But putting the supports in place was critical for me. It meant going on Campral to help with the physical cravings; doing a 6-week intensive outpatient programme; finding a long term peer to peer support group that suited me (and for me, it wasn't AA but the Women For Sobriety organization); and ongoing one on one therapy, that I'll be doing 'til the cows come home, most likely. That's fine by me. It's working, that's the most important thing of all.
But the preoccupation, yup, that was the giveaway for me. That I couldn't stop wondering if I really had a problem.
ClearSkies
Posted by Deus_Abscondis on September 1, 2007, at 13:25:43
In reply to How do you know if you're an Abuser???, posted by SometimesBlue on August 22, 2007, at 17:25:22
Abuse is anything you do that has a detrimental impact on your life now or in the future or on lives of others.
You can be an ignorant abuser or a knowledgeable abuser.
Many substances including medications can harm. Often it comes down to risk management e.g., two standard glasses of red wine will reduce the risk of certain medical conditions and will add to health (some cells will die but overall the health impact is positive). Thus you can USE alcohol.
Risk/benefit analysis requires knowing what you are doing including assessment of the values you gain from an action.D
This is the end of the thread.
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