Identify your addiction triggers and plot your cycle of addiction

To know your cycle of addiction - and know how to break it - you must first identify your addiction triggers.

The thumbnail images below reproduce the main diagrams we will be using to identify your triggers and plot your cycle. Hover your mouse pointer over each thumbnail now to see an enlarged view of each diagram. Familiarize yourself once more with the phases illustrated. We will be referring to these specific phases often during this exercise.

Why diagrams? Because your cycle of addiction will become much clearer to you when you can see it laid out in front of your eyes. From there, once you are fully aware of your cycle and your addiction triggers, you will be able to do something about it.

Now Let's Break it Down Into Manageable Chunks

The exercise we are about to undertake has numerous objectives:

• to raise your awareness of when, and in what circumstances, you tend towards (your substance here) as a problem solving strategy
• to understand why those circumstances seem to overwhelm you and what you can do about it
• to identify your emotions and thought processes both before and after you resort to your addiction of choice (Yes, it is your choice. See Choice & Decision to learn more.)
• to identify both the effects you desire and those you obtain through your addiction
• to understand why those effects seem to be so important to you, as well as the impact & repercussions they have in your life
• to alert you to relevant, alternative and long-term strategies you can work on that have the potential of actually solving the problem rather than simply numbing your perception of it
• to guide you while you lay the foundation, plan and evaluate your Personal Addiction Recovery Program

Does this seem like a lot of work? Well, let's be honest here - it is. But consider this: who stands to benefit, both in the short and long term, from the efforts you are about to invest?

Raise Your Awareness

This portion of the exercise introduces you to 5 very important questions: Who, What, When, Where & Why?

• Who else do your addictive tendencies implicate?

  When you resort to your addictive activity, do you do so mostly in an isolated & solitary context, or do you tend to seek out (or create) a more social & communal atmosphere?

  
  
  

• What additional circumstances or activities are involved?

  Do your addictive tendencies express themselves in a ritualistic fashion? Do you resort to your addiction of choice in an habitual, almost routine manner? Or do you tend to react in a spontaneous or impulsive way?

  
  
  

• When does your addiction tend to take priority?

  Are there times in your daily, weekly or monthly activities when you plan on fulfilling your addictive desires?

  
  
  

• Where do you usually tend to fulfill your addictive desires?

  When you resort to your addiction of choice, are there any specific environments that you find more favorable than others? Do you tend to avoid environments that you believe to be confrontational?

  
  
  

• Why do you believe resorting to your addiction can help you?

  Over time, your addictive tendencies have become deeply rooted in your psyche. They can rise up whenever you seek a strategy to solve problems, manage difficult emotions or experience new sensations. Why? What do you truly seek?

Understand Why

Your Emotions

The Effects

Problem Perception

The Strategy