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Someone with an addiction can lose his job, his family and even his life if he is not treated. There are ways to tell whether someone needs treatment for addiction that you can look for. If you see the signs of addiction, talk to the person about getting him help as quickly as possible.
1) Conversation becomes difficult.
One of the first signs of addiction to anything is that the person begins to lose the ability to carry on a simple conversation. If it is a physical dependency, then speech may be slurred. A mental dependency such as gambling will show signs of being unable to focus on a conversation for more than a couple of minutes. If you are finding it difficult to hold a conversation with someone who used to be lucid, then that could be the first signs of addiction.
2) A pronounced change in behavior.
Addiction shows itself in many ugly ways. Someone who is addicted only wants their addiction, and nothing else. If you notice that a person has become short-tempered, violent or irresponsible when she used to never display these characteristics, then addiction could be the problem.
3) Other problems begin to appear.
Someone with an addiction will begin spending all of his money on the addiction and you will notice him having financial problems. When the addiction takes hold, the person’s memory can start to go and they become unreliable. Do not ignore these signs of addiction.
People try to rationalize the signs of addiction as some other kind of problem. The longer you let someone stay addicted, the worse the problem will get.
