TROUBLE WITH A BAD HABIT?

HIDING? OUT OF CONTROL? ASHAMED?

Ask yourself?

1. Do you have a bad habit you just cannot break?
2. Has your behavior led to serious or potentially serious consequences?
3. Are you fearful or ashamed that others will find out about your activities?
4. Have family, friends, or an employer expressed concern about the amount of time and money you have spent on your activity or behavior?

YES?

It is time you ask for help!!!

IF YOU ANSWERED “YES” TO THREE OR MORE OF THE WARNING SIGNS, YOU ARE PROBABLY ADDICTED TO YOUR SUBSTANCE, BEHAVIOR, AND/OR ACTIVITY.

GET HELP!!!

Warning Signs That Your Behavior Is A Problem

• Unable to stop thinking about the substance, activity, or behavior. Constantly planning on how to gain the same experience from your habit again.
• Engaging in an activity, behavior, or substance more than you intended.
• Unsuccessful attempts to control, cut back, or stop your participation in an activity or habit.
• Restlessness or irritability when activity or substance is limited or unavailable.
• Using your activity or substance to escape problems or relieve feelings of helplessness, guilt, stress, or depression.
• Increased frequency of your use of a substance or participation of a habit.
• You require more of the same activity or substance to get the desired results you used to get with less.
• Lying and hiding the extent of your use of any activity or substance.
• Inappropriate risk taking is increased to gain access to more of the same.
• Jeopardizing your family, job, or important obligations for the sake of your activity or substance.
• Creating significant losses of money and time as a result of your behavior or use of a substance.
• Physical discomfort when activity or substance is discontinued.

Addiction:

• your inability to chose freely because of your participation in an activity or abuse of a substance.
• You focus all or most of your energy to gain the desired experience from your activity or substance.
• You are concerned only with yourself and your activity or substance.

TRAUMA: About 70% of those enslaved by addictions suffer from serious trauma, crises, childhood abuse & neglect, or chronic stress.

Addictions isolate you and distort your perception of self, relationships, and circumstances.

Addictive behavior is destructive and provides feelings of shame, fear, worthlessness, helplessness, sadness, humiliation, anger, distrust, failure, & confusion.

THERE IS HOPE!

DECEPTIVE THINKING

Addictive behavior is supported by your faulty thinking, holding onto myths, and self devaluation.

1. Preoccupation with searching for the circumstances or access to the activity or substance.
2. Following specific steps which leads to the activity or substance.
3. Loosing control and participating in the activity or abusing the substance to experience an altered state.
4. Despair of your powerlessness over your inability to resist temptation and feeling enslaved to your bad behavior.

Professional psychological services from a Christian perspective

ADDICTION TREATMENT

It takes courage and strength to seek help for an addiction. Respect and support is offered through professional treatment which utilizes 12-step models to recovery. Therapy will focus on improving social skills, recognizing and breaking the cycle of acting out addictive behavior. Identification and management of behavioral triggers will be taught in order to promote a manageable lifestyle as well as satisfying and fulfilling interpersonal relationships. Couple therapy is also provided to address codependency and other family concerns.

The secrete double life of compulsive behavior may include one or more of the following addictions: drinking alcohol, using drugs, gambling, having high risk sex, using pornography, raging, overeating, overworking, shopping sprees/over spending, etc. You are living life in reckless extremes.