Cocaine Addiction Test. Rate Your Withdrawal Symptoms and Learn What Treatment You Need

Cocaine addiction test - are you addicted to cocaine and looking to stop? Do you need addiction treatment and if so, what do you need?

Well, your treatment needs depend on a number of variables and it’s difficult to predict your specific needs without knowing your unique situation. Fortunately, with the cocaine addiction severity test, you can gauge the seriousness of your addiction, and this is a primary factor to consider when choosing treatment.

1. If you have a very severe addiction, you likely need more intensive treatment - for example intensive outpatient, day treatment or even residential treatment.
2. If have a mild or moderate cocaine addiction, you likely need less intensive treatment, such as an outpatient program or sessions with an addictions counselor.

This test measures your early withdrawal symptoms as a way to gauge the severity of your addiction and to predict your treatment needs. On average, people who earn a high score on this test have a more difficult time staying abstinent or sticking with treatment and tend to require more intensive addiction treatment for best odds of success.

The Cocaine Addiction Severity Test

Use this test, based on the Cocaine Selective Severity Assessment, during the first days of cocaine abstinence to measure withdrawal symptoms.

Since cocaine withdrawal can diminish your concentration and thinking abilities, you may want to ask a supportive person to administer the test by asking you the questions verbally, recording the answers, and tallying the scores for you.

1. Over the last 24 hours, have you been hungrier or eaten more than normal?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I ate a normal amount of food/had a normal appetite.
• 3-4 = I ate a lot more than normal.
• 7 = I ate twice as much as normal.

2. Over the last 24 hours, have you been less hungry or eaten less than normal?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I ate a normal amount of food/had a normal appetite
• 3-4 = I ate a lot less than normal.
• 7 = I had no appetite at all/ate nothing.

3. Over the last 24 hours, have you had sugar or carbohydrate cravings?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I had no cravings
• 3-4 = I felt strong cravings about half of the time.
• 7 = I felt strong cravings all the time.

4. Over the last 24 hours, how strong have your cocaine cravings been?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = not present.
• 7 = Very strong/unbearable.

5. Over the last 24 hours, how frequently have you experienced cocaine cravings?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I have not experienced any cravings.
• 7 = I experience constant cravings.

6. Do you have an abnormally slow heartbeat (test your apical heartbeat if possible)?

• A heartbeat of 64 beats per minute or greater = 0
• 64-63 = 1
• 62-61 = 2
• 60-59 = 3
• 58-57 = 4
• 56-55 = 5
• 54-53 = 6
• 52 or less = 7

7. Over the last 24 hours, have you been sleeping less than normal (including time spent napping)?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I have been sleeping normally.
• 3-4 = I slept about half as much as normal.
• 7 = I have not slept.

8. Over the last 24 hours, have been sleeping more than normal (including time spent napping)?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I have been sleeping normally.
• 3-4 = I could sleep or have slept about half of the day (12 hours).
• 7 = I could sleep or have slept all day (24 hours).

9. Over the last 24 hours, how anxious have you felt?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I have not felt anxious at all.
• 3-4 = I felt anxious about half of the time.
• 7 = I felt anxious all the time.

10. Over the past 24 hours, how energetic have you felt?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I had a normal amount of energy.
• 3-4 = I had no energy about half of the time.
• 7 = I had no energy at any time.

11. Over the past 24 hours, how active have you been?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I was normally active – participated in all normal daily activities.
• 3-4 = I did about half as much as I normally do.
• 7 = I did not do anything – participated in none of my normal daily activities.

12. Over the past 24 hours, how tense have you felt?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I did not feel unusually tense.
• 3-4 = I felt tense about half the time.
• 7 = I felt tense all day.

13. Over the past 24 hours, have you felt able to concentrate normally on reading, conversations and planning?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = My concentration has been normal.
• 3-4 = Concentration issues caused me problems about half of the time.
• 7 = Concentration issues plagued me all day long.

14. Over the past 24 hours, have you had paranoid thoughts?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 8, where:

• 0 = No paranoia.
• 3-4 = I feel like I can’t trust anyone.
• 7 = I feel like people want to do me harm.
• 8 = I feel like a specific person or group wants to do me harm.

15. Over the past 24 hours, have you been able to feel normal pleasure and enjoy yourself?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = Life is normally enjoyable.
• 3-4 = Life is enjoyable about half of the time.
• 7 = Nothing in life feels enjoyable.

16. Over the past 24 hours, have you felt sad or depressed?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = No depression.
• 3-4 = I felt sad about half the day.
• 7 = I felt sad all day long.

17. Over the past 24 hours, have you had suicidal thoughts?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I had no thoughts about dying.
• 3-4 = I don’t feel like life is worth living.
• 7 = I want to actually kill myself.

18. Over the past 24 hours, how irritable have you been?

Give yourself a score from 0 to 7, where:

• 0 = I felt normal.
• 3-4 = I felt more irritated than normal. Many things are irritating.
• 7 = Most things irritate me.

Scoring

Add up your scores. A score of 20 or greater is considered a high score indicative of a serious cocaine addiction.¹

• In testing, people who scored over 20 were more likely to drop out of treatment and less likely to maintain cocaine abstinence.
• People who earn a high score on the test likely need more intensive treatment interventions to achieve success.

As you abstain from cocaine, you should find that your score drops lower with each progressive day.

Acting on Your Test Results

This test cannot predict your future. Some people who earn a high score may have little trouble building lasting recovery and some people with low scores may find abstinence impossibly hard.

However, in general, research shows that the higher your score, the more difficulty you'll have staying off cocaine and the more intense treatment you’ll need to break free for good.

Don’t get discouraged – get help!

No matter how serious your current situation, you can achieve lasting change. Addiction treatment can help you reduce your cocaine use and achieve sustained periods of abstinence. Some of the benefits of cocaine addiction treatment include:

• Learning how to manage cocaine cravings.
• Learning relapse prevention skills.
• Learning cognitive behavioral thinking skills.
• Getting family or couples therapy that helps your loved ones effectively support your recovery efforts.
• Learning to handle negative emotions and frustration without resorting to drug use.
• Enhancing and sustaining your motivation to change.
• Earning small rewards for recovery success milestones (contingency management).
• Getting introduced to the 12 steps or to other community self help programs.

Addiction treatment isn’t magic; it just teaches you skills and tools you can use to overcome the brain changes of cocaine addiction.

Learn more about how cocaine affects the brain and learn how to compensate to stay clean for good.