As a young working professional or student, you probably have a lot of responsibilities in your day-to-day life. You may have a significant other who depends on you for support at home, co-workers who need you to help achieve company goals, friends and family who say they never see you, and maybe even a professor who’s expecting better than a grade of C on your next paper. The pressures of life are starting to take their toll. Your one escape might be a drink or two on the weekends; maybe that turns into a weekly cocktail hour. But is that where it stops?

Addiction is the irresistible compulsion to use alcohol and drugs despite adverse social, mental and physical consequences. It may seem like a far cry from the routine cocktail hour, but addiction is simply characterized by repeated failures to control use. It’s important to recognize the signs of substance abuse, if not for yourself, then for someone you care about.