Key Points
- “Addict” is not a clinical diagnosis. Healthcare professionals generally use terms such as substance use disorder (SUD), alcohol use disorder, or a substance-specific use disorder.
- The DSM-5-TR evaluates substance use disorders using 11 criteria involving loss of control, cravings, consequences, risky use, tolerance, and withdrawal.
- A person does not have to use drugs or alcohol every day, lose a job, become homeless, or “hit rock bottom” before substance use can become a serious problem.
- Being able to work, maintain relationships, or go periods without using does not automatically rule out a substance use disorder.
- Withdrawal from alcohol, benzodiazepines, and some other substances can become medically dangerous. Do not attempt to prove that you can quit on your own if you may be physically dependent.
- How Brooks Healing Center helps: Brooks provides medical detox, residential addiction treatment, Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) care, and continued recovery support for adults who need help changing their relationship with alcohol or drugs.
Am I Addicted? Take the 11-Question Self-Check
People often search “Am I an addict?” because something about their alcohol or drug use no longer feels right. Maybe you are using more than you planned, repeatedly promising yourself you will stop, hiding how much you use, experiencing withdrawal, or wondering why something that once felt optional now seems to control part of your life.
The short self-check below is based on the major symptom areas clinicians evaluate when applying DSM-5-TR substance use disorder criteria. It asks about your experiences during the past 12 months.
This quiz cannot diagnose a substance use disorder. Only an appropriately qualified healthcare professional can make a diagnosis after evaluating your substance use, health, symptoms, medications, and individual circumstances. The result is meant to help you recognize possible warning signs and decide whether having a confidential conversation with a professional may be worthwhile.
Am I Addicted? 11-Question Self-Check
Answer based on your experiences with alcohol or drugs during the past 12 months.
These questions are based on symptom areas clinicians consider when evaluating substance use disorders under the DSM-5-TR.
Your selections are processed only in your browser by this quiz and are not submitted anywhere by this code.
What Does “Am I an Addict?” Really Mean?
There is no medical test that divides everyone neatly into “addicts” and “non-addicts.” In fact, “addiction” and “addict” are often used differently in everyday conversation than they are in clinical care.
The DSM-5-TR uses substance use disorder as the diagnostic framework. A substance use disorder is evaluated based on patterns of substance use that lead to clinically meaningful problems or distress. Clinicians look at 11 possible criteria during a 12-month period and also consider the context in which those symptoms occurred.
Those criteria fall broadly into four areas:
- Difficulty controlling substance use
- Problems with responsibilities, relationships, or activities
- Continuing to use despite risks or harm
- Tolerance and withdrawal when applicable
A clinician may classify an established substance use disorder as mild, moderate, or severe depending partly on the number of criteria that are met. Two to three confirmed criteria fall within the mild range, four to five within the moderate range, and six or more within the severe range.
That does not mean an online score of two automatically diagnoses you. Diagnosis requires more than adding up checkboxes. A clinician needs to determine what happened, which substance was involved, whether the symptoms actually meet each criterion, and whether special considerations apply. For example, tolerance or withdrawal occurring solely during appropriate medical treatment with a medication may not count toward a substance use disorder diagnosis in the same way.
11 Signs That Your Drug or Alcohol Use May Be Becoming a Problem
1. You Regularly Use More Than You Planned
You may intend to have two drinks and finish the night with eight. You may tell yourself you will only use on the weekend and find yourself using on Wednesday. You may plan to use a small amount of a drug and repeatedly continue after reaching the limit you set.
The important issue is not one isolated occasion. It is the recurring difference between what you intend to do and what actually happens.
2. You Have Tried to Cut Back and Cannot Make It Stick
Many people recognize a substance problem long before anyone else does.
You may have thrown everything away, promised your spouse you were done, deleted a dealer’s number, decided not to drink during the week, or tried to taper yourself down. You might succeed temporarily and then return to the same pattern.
Repeated unsuccessful attempts to control use can be an important warning sign because it suggests the problem is no longer explained simply by whether you want to stop.
3. Drugs or Alcohol Take Up a Significant Amount of Your Time
Substance use can gradually occupy more of a person’s life than the actual period of intoxication.
Time may be spent finding alcohol or drugs, driving somewhere to obtain them, waiting on someone, using, hiding use, recovering from a hangover, sleeping after a binge, dealing with withdrawal, or figuring out how to obtain the next supply.
A person can still hold a job while an enormous portion of life quietly becomes organized around using and recovering.
4. You Experience Strong Cravings or Urges to Use
Cravings can be physical, psychological, or both. They may appear suddenly after stress, conflict, exposure to a familiar place, seeing another person use, receiving money, finishing work, or simply reaching the time of day when you normally use.
Cravings alone do not define your entire relationship with a substance, but persistent or intense urges are one of the areas clinicians consider when evaluating substance use disorder.
5. Substance Use Is Interfering With Responsibilities
Problems do not have to involve losing everything.
Maybe you are late more often. Your performance has slipped. You miss mornings with your children because you are recovering from the night before. School assignments get ignored. Bills go unpaid while money goes toward drugs. You call out after binges or arrange responsibilities around when you can use.
The consequences may begin subtly before becoming obvious to everyone around you.
6. You Keep Using Even Though It Is Hurting Relationships
Arguments about drinking or drug use are common when a substance problem is developing, but the important question is what happens afterward.
Has your spouse repeatedly asked you to stop? Have family members expressed concern? Have friendships become strained because of behavior while intoxicated, dishonesty, borrowing money, disappearing, or repeatedly breaking commitments?
Continuing to use despite recurring relationship problems connected to that use is another potential warning sign.
7. You Have Given Up Things That Used to Matter to You
Substance use can gradually make a person’s world smaller.
You might stop going to the gym, hunting, playing sports, attending church, spending time with friends, participating in family activities, working on hobbies, or doing things that once mattered because using has become easier or more important.
Sometimes people do not notice this change until they think about what their life looked like several years earlier.
8. You Use in Situations Where It Could Be Dangerous
This can include driving while impaired, operating equipment, mixing substances in potentially dangerous ways, using alone when overdose is possible, or repeatedly putting yourself in situations where intoxication increases the risk of injury.
A person does not have to experience a catastrophic outcome before risky substance use matters.
9. You Continue Despite Knowing It Is Affecting Your Physical or Mental Health
You may already know that alcohol or drugs worsen your anxiety, depression, blood pressure, sleep, liver health, memory, gastrointestinal problems, relationships, or another condition.
Yet knowing something is harmful and being able to stop doing it are not always the same thing.
Continuing despite recognizing recurring physical or psychological consequences is one of the patterns clinicians assess.
10. You Need More to Get the Same Effect
Tolerance can develop when repeated exposure changes how the body responds to a substance. Someone may notice that the amount that once caused a strong effect barely registers anymore, or that increasingly larger amounts are necessary to achieve the desired effect.
Tolerance by itself does not automatically mean someone has a substance use disorder. This distinction is particularly important with medications taken appropriately under medical supervision.
11. You Experience Withdrawal When You Stop or Cut Back
Withdrawal symptoms vary considerably depending on the substance.
They can include anxiety, irritability, sweating, tremors, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, body aches, restlessness, rapid heart rate, or intense cravings. Some withdrawal syndromes can involve hallucinations, seizures, severe confusion, or other medical emergencies.
Alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal can be particularly dangerous and, in some circumstances, life-threatening. If you have been using heavily or regularly and experience withdrawal when you stop, do not assume that quitting abruptly at home is safe.
Can I Be Addicted If I Still Have a Job?
Yes. Employment status does not determine whether someone has a substance use disorder.
The stereotype that a person must lose a job, home, family, driver’s license, or financial stability before having an addiction problem can delay treatment for years. Someone can be highly functional in certain areas while privately struggling with cravings, withdrawal, repeated failed attempts to stop, relationship problems, escalating use, or significant emotional distress.
External stability and internal control are not the same thing.
Do I Have to Use Every Day to Have a Substance Use Disorder?
No. Frequency matters, but a substance use disorder is not defined simply as “using every day.”
Someone may binge drink only on certain days but repeatedly experience major consequences. Another person may use opioids daily and have substantial physical dependence. Someone else may use cocaine intermittently but repeatedly lose control once use begins.
The broader pattern—including control, consequences, cravings, risks, tolerance, withdrawal, and impairment—is more informative than frequency alone.
What If Nobody Else Thinks I Have a Problem?
You do not have to wait for someone else to confront you.
Some people hide substance use extremely well. Others are surrounded by people who drink or use similarly, making increasingly dangerous behavior seem normal. Family members may also be reluctant to say anything because they fear conflict or simply do not know what is happening.
One of the most important questions is not whether someone else would call you an “addict.” It is:
Is alcohol or drug use making my life harder, less healthy, less honest, less predictable, or more difficult to control?
If the answer is yes, that is worth paying attention to.
Do I Need Rehab?
Not everyone who has concerns about substance use needs the same type or intensity of treatment. Some people can be safely treated in an outpatient setting, while others require medical detoxification, residential treatment, a Partial Hospitalization Program, medications, therapy, recovery housing, or a combination of services.
The right level of care depends on factors including:
- The substances being used
- How frequently and heavily they are being used
- Withdrawal history
- Previous seizures or severe withdrawal
- Overdose history
- Medical conditions
- Mental health symptoms
- Previous treatment attempts
- Ability to remain safe outside treatment
- Home and recovery environment
- Previous relapse patterns
Trying to determine the right level of care by yourself can be difficult. An assessment allows professionals to look at the whole situation rather than a single quiz score.
What If I Am Afraid to Stop?
That fear can mean several different things.
You may be worried about withdrawal. You may genuinely want to quit but cannot imagine life without the substance. You may be frightened of telling your family. You may worry about work, treatment costs, insurance, or what happens when people find out.
You do not have to solve all of those questions before making a phone call.
In fact, the first conversation with an admissions team is partly meant to answer them.
When Withdrawal Requires Immediate Medical Attention
Some withdrawal situations should not be managed by relying on an online article or self-assessment. Severe confusion, hallucinations, seizures, loss of consciousness, serious breathing problems, chest pain, or another immediate medical emergency requires emergency medical care.
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department for an immediate medical emergency. If you or someone else is experiencing a mental health or substance-related crisis, 988 also provides 24/7 crisis support in the United States.
Do not delay emergency care while attempting to contact a treatment center.
You Do Not Have to Wait Until Things Get Worse
One of the most damaging ideas surrounding addiction is that a person has to reach “rock bottom” before treatment can work.
You can ask for help while you still have your job.
You can ask for help before your marriage falls apart.
You can ask for help after your first frightening withdrawal episode instead of your fifth.
You can ask for help because you are simply tired of organizing your life around when, where, and how much you can use.
Recognizing the problem earlier does not make the problem less legitimate. It gives you an opportunity to address it before more consequences accumulate.
How Brooks Healing Center Helps
Brooks Healing Center provides addiction treatment for adults at our campus in Normandy, Tennessee, between Nashville and Chattanooga. Treatment is individualized according to a person’s substance use, medical needs, withdrawal risk, mental health symptoms, previous treatment history, and recovery environment.
Depending on clinical need, care may include medical detox, residential addiction treatment, medication-assisted treatment when appropriate, Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) care, and supportive sober living as a person progresses through recovery.
You do not have to know which program you need before calling.
If you took the self-check above and are concerned by your responses—or if your substance use is already frightening you regardless of your score—call Brooks Healing Center admissions at 931-486-8824. An admissions counselor can talk through what is happening, answer questions about treatment, and help determine what the next appropriate step may be.
A phone call is not a diagnosis, and it does not obligate you to enter treatment. It is simply a way to get more information about what you are experiencing and what options may be available.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many DSM-5-TR criteria indicate a substance use disorder?
The DSM-5-TR uses 11 possible criteria. When a qualified clinician confirms that two or more applicable criteria occurred within a 12-month period as part of a problematic pattern of substance use, that can meet the diagnostic symptom threshold for a substance use disorder. Two to three criteria correspond with mild severity, four to five with moderate severity, and six or more with severe severity.
Does answering “yes” twice on this quiz mean I have an addiction?
No. This quiz is educational and cannot diagnose you. A professional assessment considers whether each criterion actually applies, the substance involved, the context of your symptoms, appropriate prescribed medication use, other medical or mental health conditions, and other clinical information.
Can you have a substance use disorder without withdrawal?
Yes. Withdrawal is only one of the criteria considered. A person can meet criteria through other patterns such as loss of control, unsuccessful attempts to stop, cravings, consequences, hazardous use, or continued use despite harm.
Can you be physically dependent without being addicted?
Yes. Physical dependence, tolerance, and withdrawal can occur in some people taking medications appropriately. That is one reason an actual substance use disorder assessment involves more than simply checking whether tolerance or withdrawal exists.
Can I have an addiction if I only use on weekends?
Potentially. How often someone uses is only one part of the picture. Repeated loss of control, significant consequences, hazardous use, cravings, relationship problems, or inability to stop can still warrant professional evaluation even when use does not occur every day.
Should I detox from alcohol or benzodiazepines at home?
People who may be physically dependent on alcohol or benzodiazepines should speak with a medical professional before suddenly stopping. Withdrawal from these substances can become medically dangerous. Severe symptoms such as seizures, hallucinations, severe confusion, or another medical emergency require immediate emergency care.
Who can I call if I am unsure whether I need treatment?
You can call Brooks Healing Center admissions at 931-486-8824. The admissions team can discuss your current substance use, withdrawal concerns, treatment history, insurance, and other circumstances and explain potential next steps.
Sources
McNeely, J., Hamilton, L. K., Whitley, S. D., Wiegand, T. J., Stancliff, S. L., Norton, B. L., Gonzalez, C. J., & Hoffman, C. J. (2024, May). Substance use screening, risk assessment, and use disorder diagnosis in adults. Johns Hopkins University. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565474/
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2025, May 8). Alcohol use disorder: From risk to diagnosis to recovery. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/health-professionals-communities/core-resource-on-alcohol/alcohol-use-disorder-risk-diagnosis-recovery
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2025, August 25). Treatment options for substance use disorder. https://www.samhsa.gov/substance-use/treatment/options
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (n.d.). Crisis help: Suicide, mental health, drug, and alcohol issues. https://www.samhsa.gov/find-support/in-crisis
