What is the 12 step understanding of untreated addiction?
When an addiction is untreated it tends to progress, and as it tends to progress you start to see the fallout of the addiction. You will start to see problems in the social environment, you will probably start to see problems psychologically, and you will start to see problems maybe in the work environment. It’s important to realize that if you have some sort of behavior, some kind of activity, which is taking you out of a balanced lifestyle, you need to really look at what the payoffs are. You need to look at how can you restore balance in your life again, and to not let it go to the point where your spouse is leaving you because you’ve put them into debt or because you’ve spent so much time on the internet that you’re no longer available or you’re having affairs on the outside, or you’re gambling so much that you’ve lost everything you’ve built up over the years. You’ve got a problem and you need to get some help.
