Assessment #3:
How Compulsive Is My Use?

A compulsive bad habit is one that is not really within your control – it may fluctuate with your mood, and often seems to have a life entirely of its own. Normally, this kind of relationship with your mood-altering substance comes from your emotions, and therapy is the pathway that can help you reach some real and lasting change. Take a look at the statements below and see how many you agree with.

1. Once I get started with drinking or drugs, I find it’s awfully hard to stop.
2. Sometimes I feel like a "Jekyll and Hyde" with my bad habit. The "me" who uses is very different from the "me" who wants to not use – and they don’t get along.
3. I am concerned about the risks I take with my drinking/drug use, yet this does not seem to help me cut back or stop.
4. I have had difficult or painful childhood experiences that might be linked to my use.
5. I know that some of my drinking/drug use is about keeping depression, jitteriness, or other bad feelings at bay. I have the sense that these bad feelings pre-existed the substance use.
6. I find that I think a lot about drugs/alcohol even when I am not using.
7. I spend more money on my substance use than I should.
8. I feel a great sense of relief with the first drink or the first hit.
9. I keep using even after making promises to myself or others that I will stop or cut back.
10. Sometimes I want to stop, but am afraid of what would happen to my emotional life if I did.

If you agreed with a number of these statements, you are indicating that your drug/alcohol use is fueled by emotional issues, rather than by hanging out with the wrong crowd or being in a phase that will pass. For emotional issues, therapy, not coaching, is needed. Go to Inner-Directed Therapy to find out more.

Your next step is to take Assessment #4, which will help you figure out if you need more before you're ready for Self-Led Solutions.