Alcohol, Drugs, Gambling

Alcohol

What does alcohol do?

To quote NZ Mental Health “Alcohol is the most widely used mind-altering drug in New Zealand. It is legal, it is readily available and it is generally socially acceptable.”
“Alcohol has stimulating, depressing and mood-altering functions that leave practically no circuit or system of the brain untouched. This range of effects is what sets alcohol apart from many other drugs.”

How do you know whether you are an alcoholic?

• Is your craving for alcohol so great you cannot limit or contain your drinking?
• When you go without alcohol do your experience sweating, shaking, nausea or anxiety?
• Do you need to consume greater amounts of alcohol to achieve the same ‘high’?
• Do you find yourself hiding bottles of spirits and then denying you have any?
• Does it take an ‘above average’ amount of alcohol to give you a hangover?
• Do you know the ‘safe’ level of alcohol per day for your sex, height and body weight?
• Have friends and family been suggesting you should ‘cut down’?

Drugs

What effects to drugs have?

When it comes to talking ‘drug abuse’ it sometimes seems that the sky is the limit. You may have started in the belief that you could ‘dabble’ in drugs, perhaps getting a quick ‘high’ at a party. You gradually enjoy that ‘high’ more often, finally discovering that you need to keep taking the drug, not to get that original ‘high’ but simply to stay on top of everyday life. A drug habit controls your life, affects your relationships and your work, is truly debilitating and extremely expensive, not to mention frequently putting you on the wrong side of the law.

How do you know you are addicted to drugs?

• Is getting the drug becoming more important that anything else in your life? 
• More important than family, friends, work?
• Is your judgement becoming impaired?
• Are you experiencing varying periods of high energy and restlessness?
• An inability to sleep, or sleeping excessively?
• Do you sometimes feel confused and disoriented?
• Do you make sure your body is covered with clothing to hide any injection marks
• If you are smoking the drug do you have a persistent cough?
  
  

Gambling

How does gambling affect your life?

Gambling is often known as the ‘hidden’ addiction. It has few outward signs and, if the gambler is financially well placed, then it may be kept hidden for many years. However, as addicted gamblers do not know when to stop, if they do not have the financial resources to support their habit, the money will be obtained from anywhere possible.

It is the excitement of ‘beating the odds that gives the gambler their ‘high’. The main thrill a gambler gets from a substantial win is the knowledge that there is now ‘lots more money to gamble with’.

Of course, when there are losses, which there frequently are, the result can be bouts of depression. The gambler is often a loner, happily spending hours feeding money into slot machines for little or no return.

How do you know you are addicted to gambling?

• Do you find yourself always thinking about your next trip to the casino, or bar or TAB?
• Do you continually talk about past successes and failures?
• Do you experience a ‘high’ when gambling? 
• Do you have to gamble more and more money to achieve that same ‘high’?
• Do you gamble until your last dollar is lost?
• Do you lie to family and friends about where the money has gone?
• Have you developed a string of amazing excuses for not having the money to pay the bills?
• If you are unable to gamble do you become restless, irritable or angry?
• Is gambling an escape from other pressures in your life?
• Are you always telling yourself you will stop?