Dr. Carnes’ Personal Craziness Index for Sex Addiction, Porn Addiction & Infidelity

Personal Craziness Index

The Personal Craziness Index (PCI) is a tool that was adapted by Dr. Patrick Carnes as a method to assist people in recovery from compulsive sexual behavior, problematic sexual behavior, love addiction, porn addiction, sex addiction, and repeated infidelity to detect escalating risk for slips or relapse. Using this tool, the individual attempting to find sustainable sexual integrity in their life can identify yellow flags as an early indicator of when things are starting to get off-kilter.

The Personal Craziness Index (PCI) is based on two assumptions:
• Craziness first appears in routine, simple behaviors that support lifestyle balance.
• Behavioral signs will occur in patterns involving different parts of our lives.

If we aren't intentionally examining our behaviors, we may not notice that our checking account is overdrawn. If our checking account is overdrawn, we are probably out of socks as well, because we have not done our laundry. If this pattern is pervasive, there is a risk that our lives will become emotionally bankrupt. The idea of the PCI is to consider twelve dimensions of life. Then you'll use these to figure out your top 7 indicators for encroaching “craziness,” and then take an inventory of your PCI each day, so you have an objective idea of where things are at for you in terms of your inner and outer environment.

The PCI is highly personal. For some people, skipping workouts may not be a big deal. But for you, it might be an indication that you are not taking care of yourself or finding the right balance in life.

Following are twelve dimensions of your life in which you will identify danger signs that will indicate your life is getting crazy. Write your answers in the space provided.

1. Physical Health. The ultimate insanity is to not take care of our bodies. When our physical health deteriorates, we have nothing. Yet, we seem to have little time for physical conditioning. Examples of “craziness” in this area of life include being over a certain weight, missing regular exercise for two days or more, smoking cigarettes, feeling exhausted from lack of sleep, skipping showers or meals, not taking medication as prescribed, etc.

Q: How do you know that you are not taking care of your body?

2. Transportation. How people get from place to place is often a lifestyle statement. Take, for example, a car owner who seldom comes to a full stop, routinely exceeds the speed limit, runs out of gas, forgets to check the oil, puts off needed repairs, neglects to clean out the backseat, and averages three speeding tickets and ten parking tickets per year. Another example is the bus rider who routinely misses the bus, forgets to carry change or bus pass or frequently leaves a smartphone or purse on the bus.

Q: What are the transportation behaviors that indicate your life is getting out of control?

3. Environment. To not have time to do your chores is a comment on the order of your life. Consider the home in which the plants usually go unwatered, fish are unfed, grocery supplies are depleted, laundry is not done or put away, cleaning is neglected, and dishes go unwashed.

Q: What are ways in which you neglect your home or living space?

4. Work. Chaos at work is risky for recovery. Signs of chaotic behavior are failing to return phone calls within 24 hours, showing up late for appointments, falling behind in promised work, having an unmanageable in-basket, and putting “too many irons in the fire.”

Q: When your life is unmanageable at work, what are your behaviors?

5. Interests. What are some positive interests, besides work, that give you perspective on the world? Music, reading, photography, fishing, cooking, and gardening are examples.

Note: This is the only category in which you list positive factors. If you use one of these for your PCI calculation (later in the exercise) phrase it in that space as “Lack of”)

Q: What are you doing when you’re not overextended?

6. Social Life. Think of friends in your social network (beyond a significant other or family members) who provide significant support for you.

Q: What are signs that you’ve become isolated, alienated, or disconnected from this network?

7. Family and Significant Others. Examples of craziness in this area of life are staying silent, becoming overtly hostile, or engaging in passive-aggressive behaviors.

Q: What behaviors indicate that you are disconnected from those closest to you?

8. Finances. We handle our financial resources much like our personal resources. Signs of financial overextension include an unbalanced checking account, overdue bills, a lack of ready cash, and spending more than you earn. These may have parallels in various forms of emotional overextension.

Q: What signs indicate that you are financially overextended?

9. Spiritual Life and Personal Reflection. Spirituality can be diverse and include such activities as meditation, yoga, and/or prayer. Personal reflection includes keeping a personal journal, completing daily readings, and pursuing therapy.

Q: What sources of routine personal reflection do you neglect when you are overextended?

10. Other Compulsive or Symptomatic Behaviors. Compulsive behaviors that have negative consequences indicate something about your general well-being and state of overall recovery. When you watch inordinate amounts of TV, overeat, bite your nails, or develop another compulsive behavior that erodes your self-esteem, these behaviors such as forgetfulness, slips of the tongue, or jealousy are further evidence of overextension.

Q: What negative compulsive or symptomatic behaviors are present when you feel “on the edge”?

11. Defining and Refining Your Process/Program. Whether it’s a Twelve-Step way of life which involves many practices or a self-curated process toward health and sustainable sobriety such as Individual therapy, Group attendance, establishing a community, service, and phone calls to support group members - all that become the foundation of a healthy recovery.

Q: What recovery activities do you neglect first?

12. Healthy Relationships. Engaging in exploitative, abusive, or otherwise unhealthy relationships is a sign that you are not well-grounded in your recovery.

Q: What are signs that a relationship of yours is unhealthy or becoming unhealthy? Are you lying to the other person in the relationship or leaving out important pieces of the truth? Are you afraid to say what is on your mind? Are your boundaries still firm, or are you doing things someone else wants you to do even when it’s not right for you?

Record & Interpret Daily Examples of your PCI

Directions: The PCI is effective only when a careful record is maintained. Recording your daily process in conjunction with regular journal-keeping will help you stay focused on priorities that keep life manageable; work on program efforts a day at a time; expand your knowledge of your patterns; and provide a warning of self-destructive cycles during periods of vulnerability.

From the thirty-six(ish) signs of personal craziness you recorded, choose the seven that are most critical for you.
My critical incidents – seven key signs of personal craziness:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

At the end of each day, review this list and assign one point to each behavior that occurred during the day. Record your total points for each day in the space provided on the Personal Craziness Chart on the next page.

If you fail to record the number of points each day, that day receives an automatic score of seven. If you cannot even do a daily scoring, you are obviously out of balance.

At the end of the week total your seven daily scores for the week and make an X in the appropriate box in the PCI Graph. Chart your progress over twelve weeks, and reflect on where you are in recovery.

The PCI is especially useful early on as recovery habits are established. Also, the PCI becomes helpful during periods of stress and vulnerability. Many simply use it as a daily reminder of their progress. These users change the items as they move forward in their recovery.

Interpretation of the PCI

41-49 Very High Risk

Usually pursuing self-destructive behavior; overzealous about one’s special interests; blames others for failures; seldom produces on time; controversial in community; success vs. achievement- oriented.

31-40 High Risk

Living in extremes (overactive or inactive); relationships abbreviated; feels irresponsible and is; constantly has reasons for not following through; lives one way, talks another; works hard to catch up.

21-30 Medium Risk

Often rushed; can’t get it all in; no emotional margin for crisis; vulnerable to slip into old patterns; typically lives as if he or she has inordinate influence over others and/or feels inadequate.

11-20 Stable Solidity

Resilient. Recognizes human limits; does not pretend to be more than they are; maintains most boundaries; well ordered; typically feels competent; feels supported; able to weather crisis.

1-10 Optimal Health

Very resilient. Knows limits; has clear priorities; congruent with values; rooted in diversity; supportive; has established a personal system; balanced, orderly, resolve crises quickly; capacity to sustain spontaneity; shows creative discipline.