BOBBEE BEE: THESE ARE THE WARNING SIGNS
1. Changing on the Inside:
I start to feel bad, but I can't figure out what's going wrong.
2. Lying to Myself:
I feel bad. I try to make the bad feeling go away by telling myself that everything's OK, when I know it really isn't. Sometimes I believe My own lies and feel better for a little while. At other times, I know I'm lying, and I feel guilty about it. At still other times I'm confused and I can't tell whether I'm lying to myself or telling the truth.
3. Looking Good to Others:
I want to look good to others, so I hold back on what I'm really thinking or feeling. I start lying and covering up, instead of telling the truth and taking a chance on looking bad. I start playing a role that I think other people will like and accept.
4. Feeling Like No One Wants to Be My Friend:
I want to fit in and have an exciting social life and a lot of good friends, but being clean and sober starts to get in the way.
5. Feeling Romantically Undesirable:
I want to have exciting romantic relationships but I start to feel like this will never happen because I can't drink or use drugs. I start holding back when I'm around people I'm attracted to.
n style="color: #cc33cc;">6. Convincing Myself That Adults Can't Help Me
I convince myself that my parents, counselors, and teachers don't really understand me. I stop paying attention to what they're telling me. I start to believe that I'm smarter than they are.
7. Staying Away from Friends Who Can Help
I avoid people who will force me to be honest with myself, and this means staying away from my friends who are clean and sober.
8. Hanging Out With Old Friends Who Can't Help
I feel like being witha my old friends who are drinking and drugging. I convince myself that I can have a good time with them and get my mind off things. They seem to understand and support me. It seems like nobody else does.
9. Feeling Bad That I Can't Party
10. Getting Complusive
I start using complusive behaviors to keep my mind off how uncomfortable I am. Maybe I watch too much TV, I eat too much, gain weight, and then starve myself to try and lose it. Maybe I drink too much coffee or too many soft drinks with caffeine in them. Maybe I smoke too many cigarettes. If I'm into sports, I practice too hard and train too much. If I'm into music, I practice my instrument to lose myself and my problems in my music
11. Acting Out:
I start doing some things that I'm not supposed to be doing but I cover it up and get away with it. This gives me the courage to break bigger rules and to take bigger risks.
12. Crisis Building
Things keep going wrong, I overreact to or mismanage each problem
13. Getting Defensive
When people point out problems that don't want to see, I get defensive, scared, and angry. I blame them for making me feel bad. 14. Avoiding Family Members:
I stop doing things with my family members. I make excuses to stay away from my mother, father, brothers, sisters and other family members. I stop eating meals with my family. I refuse to go to family gatherings. I don't want to get involved in family parties.
15. Getting Lonely:
I start spending more time alone. I usually have good reasons and excuses for staying away from other people.
16. Getting Depressed:
I get so depressed that I can't do the things I normally do. I feel life isn't worth living, and sometimes I think about killing myself or relapsing as a way to end the depression. I stop eating right. I can't get started or get anything done.
17. Getting Immobilized:
I can't seem to get started or make myself do what I know I need to do. I stop following a daily routine.
18. Losing Control
I start doing things that violate my values, hurt me, and hurt those I love. As a result, I start losing respect for myself. I find excuses to miss counseling and self-help group meetings. I cut classes and push other people away by ignoring them, getting angry with them, criticizing them, or putting them down. I get so isolated that it seems like there's no one I can turn to for help. I start to feel sorry for myself and use self-pity to get attention. I feel ashamed and guilty. I know that I'm out of control, but I keep lying, using denial, and making excuses for my behavior. I feel trapped by the pain and start to believe that I'll never be able to manage my life. I see only three possible ways out-insanity, suicide or relapse.
19. Thinking about Relapse:
I want to escape, I start to think that having a relapse will help me solve my problems and feel better. Things seem so bad that I start to think I might as well relapse because things couldn't get worse. I try to convince myself that I can use alcohol and drugs socially without losing control or having serious problems
20. Relapse
I try to solve my problems and feel better by using alcohol or drugs. Although I rationalize my behavior, deep inside I know that alcohol and drugs won't work and will hurt me in the long run. I start using and try to control my behavior. I feel myself losing control and get disappointed because the alcohol and drugs aren't doing for me what I thought they would. My relapse spirals out of control, creating serious problems with my life and health. The problems keep getting worse until I realize that I need help and decide to try recovery one more time.
Developed by Terence T.Gorski: The Adolescent Relapse Warning Sign List
