How To Help A Loved One With An Addiction

It’s often painful and challenging to support family or close friends who are struggling with any form of addiction. Getting through it all may seem overwhelming at times. You can’t help but wonder if being passive or accepting it would be a better option. In any case, though, ignoring the issue can hurt you and your family and the person you care about. Regardless of how painful it may be for you, taking the time to encourage your loved one to seek out help is essential. When looking for a center to start your rehab journey with, it’s vital you find a company like Transformations Mending Fences (https://ttcmendingfences.com/treatment/help-for-our-heroes/first-responder/) which offers a variety of services, to ensure you can get the best help possible.

This article will provide some guidance on how to support someone who is addicted. A person’s relationship with family, peers, and associates can suffer serious harm when they struggle with addiction. When you have a friend or family member detoxing from drugs, you may want to do all that you can to help them, but you may encounter obvious difficulties along the way. An addiction is a long-term, relapsing disease of the brain, and a person’s path to recovery is often arduous. People close to them are affected by this, and professional support may be required to encourage them to get treated and restart their lives afresh. 

Take note of these ways to help your loved one get rid of addiction:

1. Tell Them To Get Help

It’s important to treat addiction early, just as you would with other diseases. However, don’t be shocked if they refuse to get treatment or provide reasons for not doing so. Keep emphasizing how important it is for them to enter treatment while being careful not to make them feel horrible or shameful about it. Take advantage of professional expertise offered by recovery centers like Jackson House Addiction Treatment & Recovery Centers.

An intervention is another option you can use to help your loved one. Though interventions are challenging to conduct, it might be precisely what they need if your loved one is deep in addiction. Make sure you have the help of a professional interventionist to help you navigate smoothly on this predicament.  

2. Learn To Empathize

When dealing with a family member struggling with addiction, it can cause you emotional wreckage, significantly if you can’t help but worry about how they or your family will cope. You might also feel angry, frustrated, disappointed, and resentful due to the family member’s actions and feel as if the situation is already hopeless. You may feel like you’ve reached the end line. Even if you’re feeling so vulnerably hopeless about this situation, there are several things you can do to make sure he or she gets the treatment they need. 

Adopting empathy is indeed a must if you want to assist someone struggling with addiction. Anyone can develop an addiction. This isn’t an indication of flawed character or intellect. One doesn’t wish to be afflicted by addiction. 

When given the opportunity, they want nothing more than to change for the better. Unfortunately, it takes more than just their will. Addiction may have already penetrated deeper into their souls, and that’s something more severe to get out of.  The person you love is probably afraid to admit they need help to overcome addiction. 

Most people who struggle with addiction are in denial and are scared of admitting their situations. Feeling powerless, they do things that go against what they ought to do. It’s not uncommon for them to not realize that they are behaving in unusual manners. Their isolation and loneliness make them afraid to ask for help. And they fear that: 

• They’ll be abandoned by those they love.
• Their jobs would be lost.
• Their lives will change for the worst.

Some people suffering from substance abuse refuse to accept their emotional traumas, ending up hurting themselves with more substances instead. Those who abuse drugs find that burying emotions and feeling nothing is preferable to recovering from emotional pain. 

It’s crucial to approach the subject of addiction delicately and with love when you truly understand the pain, your loved one is experiencing. They should feel supported in their treatment and that you don’t blame them for their addiction. 

3. Avoid Criticizing

Blaming someone is human nature because it makes solving problems easier when you know how they occurred. Yet addictions are rarely straightforward, so one thing can never be blamed for everything. In addition, the addicted individual is usually not the cause of the disease.  

Don’t explicitly state or imply that your loved one’s addiction is his fault. It’s counterproductive to someone who’s recovering from addiction to shame or criticize them. Occasionally, tough love can be helpful to someone suffering from addiction, but this situation doesn’t call for it. 

Trying to shame your loved one isn’t an excellent way to practice compassion for them; on the contrary, it allows them to take a back step away from you and the possibilities of seeking professional help. Don’t be angry; talk to them instead with optimism and encouragement, opening the idea of committing to a recovery plan. Don’t lecture or nag, but provide physical and oral advice and encouragement. Take advantage of the helpful things you can say to a family or friend suffering from addiction.

4. Be Familiar With Their Situation

It’s beneficial to learn how to help someone suffering from addiction if you know about addiction and its treatment. If you have an alcoholic son and you need to help him, research many resources about alcoholism. Get to know about the signs of alcohol addiction and the available treatments. It’s worthwhile to acquaint yourself with the specific type of recovery your son is receiving to understand better what he is going through and the assistance he is receiving for his treatment.  

The following questions will provide you with information about addiction generally. 

• What causes addiction?
• What happens when you become addicted?
• Why do some people get hooked on drugs or alcohol?
• Depending on the severity of the addiction, what treatment options are available?

As you learn more, the better you’ll understand what’s happening and be of assistance better. 

5. Don’t Forget About Yourself

One important thing to keep in mind is if you want to help your loved one, you have to take care of yourself first. Addiction isn’t a laughing matter. You can be affected physically, mentally, and emotionally even if you’re not the direct person involved. As a result, self-care becomes increasingly critical. There are several common approaches to self-care: 

• A healthy diet
• Working out
• Engaging in enjoyable activities
• Get enough sleep
• Whenever possible, it is beneficial to express your emotions rather than bottle them up.
• Maintain control over your life by setting boundaries.

Self-care may differ from person to person, but it can be as simple as taking care of your own basic needs. It’s almost impossible to change someone else’s life when you’re not mentally or physically well. You’ll become vulnerable to enabling behaviors if you remain indifferent to your needs and wants. This will only increase the likelihood of your family members’ addictions while further disrupting your life. 

6. Stay Positive

An addiction can ruin a relationship between a family, a friend, and a coworker. A person who has this addiction will live and experience it throughout his or her lifetime. It can be harder to remain hopeful knowing this. 

But addiction can be treated, and though there’s no cure, many people keep it under control or relapse and then return to recovery. Although the person’s capability to sustain a lasting and meaningful life decreases when hope fades, recovery remains probable. Stay positive and hopeful. A little hope and belief in your loved one go a long way. When they realize how much faith you’ve invested in them, they will be more encouraged to start anew. 

7. Respect Their Privacy

During attending therapy and caring for yourself, you may feel tempted to unload your frustrations about your addicted family. It’s important to tell your therapist as much about yourself as possible, but you should avoid sharing about your loved one’s addiction journey in detail. This goes the same when talking to friends and other families. Always be mindful of what details to share. 

Be sure the person is comfortable discussing their struggles and hearing about them. Ensure you don’t compromise confidentiality and don’t reveal what was discussed in therapy to the outside world. Respect your loved one’s right not to discuss whatever they talked about in therapy or counseling with you, and don’t try to make them tell you everything. Their life is valuable like anyone else is, so respect their choices and privacy. 

8. Expect That It Will Be A Difficult Journey

For you or your loved one, rehabilitation can be an arduous experience. Refusal to seek treatment can have many causes, including: 

• Shame – Having an addiction may make them feel self-conscious and endanger their social life and career.
• Stigma – Your loved one may be unable or unwilling to speak out about diseases of the brain, like addiction, due to the stigma attached to them.
• Denial – People who have an addiction might not even admit to having an addiction or be willing to consider treatment.

It’s also possible for someone treated for an addiction to relapse, which can create dread in both you and your loved one. The possibility is always there, but it’s not helpful to dwell on it. Focus instead on positive reinforcement and encouragement. Find a relapse prevention plan instead. 

Your involvement and encouragement can significantly help your family member battle addiction. Seek help from treatment and recovery centers to learn more about the perfect recovery plan for your loved one. For instance, if they are addicted to Kratom, then learning the answer to the question ‘how long do kratom withdrawals last?’ will help you to better understand and navigate the challenges ahead. Helping your family member as soon as possible is the most important thing you can do. A person’s damage can be minimized or prevented faster if addiction comes to an end quickly. Any situation can be recovered from no matter how hopeless you think it is. The road to a healthier, happier life is just around the corner.