Notice and Warn
How to notice, understand, and help people struggling with substance addiction
Problems arising from addictions are growing. They include both psychoactive substances, such as alcohol, and our behaviors that lead to behavioral addictions — gambling, the internet and screens, shopping, or work. The hardest part is usually the beginning, i.e. noticing that a problem exists at all. Addiction develops gradually and remains unnoticed for a long time — the person it affects is the last to see it.
Bohdan T. Woronowicz, MD, PhD, has distilled over 50 years of clinical work into this original program. It is meant to make it easier to notice these problems, to warn that they are already making themselves felt, and to take the first step. Even a temporary pause from the behaviors addiction demands, together with basic knowledge about them, creates a chance to step back and decide what comes next — to act on your own, for example with our app, or to seek help from addiction psychotherapy specialists.
Notice the signs
Learn to recognize the early warning signs of turning to alcohol, medication, or other psychoactive substances as a way of coping with stress and life's problems — a pattern that leads to addiction.
Understand the mechanism
Addiction is a serious, chronic illness, not a lack of “willpower” — it affects people regardless of education, profession, wealth, or social standing.
React wisely
Instead of judging and pushing someone away, point them toward help: a conversation, an address, professional support — it can save a life.