Tips For Helping Someone With An Addiction
The challenge with addiction is that the addict is not the only one impacted by this disease. Family and friends can have difficulty with the addicts behavior, financial problems, legal problems and the daily struggle of supporting a loved one. Here are seven tips that family and friends can reference to support an addicted family member or friend.
Have I Noticed Drugs Interfering With My Loved Ones Life
Sometimes you may know when a family member or friend is using drugs. Perhaps they started out using a drug recreationally, or maybe they had a prescription for the drug. For example, opioids are a common class of drugs prescribed to manage pain. Approximately 2.1 million people in the United States have developed substance abuse disorders stemming from prescription opioid use, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Often, your instinct is to allow your loved ones to make their own decisions. They tell you they can handle the drug, and you think it is not your place to tell them what to do. It can be difficult to break away from that line of thought, but when you ask yourself if youve seen drugs starting to affect your loved ones life, youll start thinking about how to speak up. You can ask yourself if youve noticed your family member or friend:
- Skipping important obligations in favor of finding or using drugs
- Taking the drug more often and in higher doses
- Continuing to use the drug even though it affects them poorly
- Exhibiting any withdrawal symptoms
How Can I Help
Reaching out is the first step, but ask yourself what you can do next. Are you ready to help your family member or friend seek professional help? Are you ready to listen to them talk about their struggle, no matter how painful that may be to hear? Addicts may feel hopeless, but it is amazing how even one person can start to change that. There is hope for a happy, sober life after addiction.
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Tip #: Get Counseling
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It may be helpful to get some individual counseling to assist yourself. Counseling isnt just for the addict. The more you are able to manage the better you will be able to help your loved one. There are a variety of resources to find counselors. Your company may have an Employee Assistance Program or your health insurance may have mental health benefits that you can access. Talk to someone you trust about finding the resources you need and do a search for resources in your area.
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The Right Treatment Program For Your Family
It is essential that the addiction treatment program you choose also works from a compassionate, medical understanding of addiction in order to foster motivational change rather than spark defensive reactions. With the right care, your loved one can gain the insight and skills necessary to remove the obstacles to recovery and find lasting sobriety. At the same time, dedicated family programming helps you recover both individually and as a family, providing a safe space for learning, connecting, and nourishing your relationships. Together, you can build a richer future for each member of your family and create lasting freedom from addiction.
Alta Mira offers a comprehensive suite of treatment programs for people struggling with addiction as well as co-occurring mental health disorders and process addictions. We work with a trusted network of professional interventionists who can help your family start the journey toward recovery. Contact usto learn more about our innovative programming and how we can help you or your loved one heal from the pain of addiction.
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When Your Loved One Wont Get Help
There is an ongoing debate about whether an addict who doesnt want help could actually be helped. Several believe that only the addict can help themselves. They need to want to quit. But during active addiction, few addicts want to quit. In fact, most addicts are, by their nature, unwilling patients.
The brain of the addict has been hijacked by drugs and leaves the addict powerless to see themselves and make rational choices truly. Because they have come to depend on drugs to function, they will make excuses, justify the indefensible, and put off treatment as long as possible.
When an addict does get treatment, it is often because of the following reasons:
- Court order
Many go on to achieve lifelong sobriety, although entering treatment wasnt entirely voluntary.
Do You Know When Drugs Began To Interfere With Your Life
Drug users may show signs of struggling with addiction, but drugs could have begun to interfere with their lives before anyone else noticed. A drug habit could affect a persons finances, health and relationships. Talk with your loved one and ask them to look back over the time since the drug habit began. How has that person changed? What impact has drugs had on their life? Pushing your family member or friend to examine specific examples can help reveal just how much impact addiction is having. This can be particularly effective when talking to someone who is stuck in denial. It is difficult to ignore concrete evidence, such as losing a job or important relationship.
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How To Admit Someone To Rehab Who Refuses To Go
Some people fear that if an individual with a substance addiction is admitted to rehab against their will, they will not benefit from time spent in rehab. However, scientific evidence suggests few differences in the success rates of those who voluntarily go to rehab and those who go involuntarily. The patient suffering from a drug or alcohol addiction can still recover with a high-quality treatment program at a rehab center, even if they dont go willingly at first.
It is indeed a smoother admission process when the patient is ready for change. But sometimes, an intervention is the best option. If a loved one continues down a self-destructive path, he or she could hurt themselves or others. Its OK to guide them off that path and toward rehab instead.
Below are some actionable tips that may be useful for assisting someone struggling with addiction issues. These steps may help encourage a loved one to join a rehab program and begin the recovery journey.
Dont Forget To Take Care Of Yourself
Trying to get your spouse the help they need can make your world feel incredibly small. You might feel like its easier to isolate yourself from friends and family than it is to talk about whats going on. You might also feel like you dont have enough energy or time to do something nice for yourself. But you need to maintain your health if youre going to work toward your spouses recovery. Carve out intentional time in your schedule to:
- Connect with a support group
- Enjoy your hobbies
- Catch up with family and friends
- Exercise
- Rest
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What Can You Do When Someone Refuses Treatment
It can be very difficult when your loved one needs to stop using alcohol or other drugs and refuses treatment. When someone refuses treatment or refuses to acknowledge they have a problem, it is devastating to everyone who loves them and cares about them. The friends and family of addicts often live in shame and silence. Addiction is a complex, vicious disease, but recovery is possible. Below is a list of ten steps you can take if your loved one with an addiction refuses treatment.
What Help Is There For The Addict
An addicted person may not always realize that they are manipulating you or understand why their behavior is unacceptable. This may be due to the physical and psychological effects of the drugs. However, in many instances, manipulative behavior is also a product of complex life experiences or trauma, resulting in an inability to communicate effectively, deal with stress, or establish healthy relationships.
For these reasons, many drug detox and rehab centers provide trauma-informed addiction treatment that addresses the social, psychological, and behavioral aspects of addiction. Although quitting cold turkey may help the person overcome their physical dependence on a drug, it wont address any of the behavioral and cognitive problems associated with addiction.
Medical drug detox is often recommended for people with severe addictions,4 as it provides round-the-clock observation and medication-assisted treatment for the most comfortable and safe detox experience. Once the person has completed the withdrawal process, begins to heal physically, and has a clear mind, he or she may choose to continue addiction treatment at a rehab center, where therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy and EMDR therapy can be used to chip away at the trauma and behavioral problems that have contributed to the addiction.
References:
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What Its Like Loving An Addict
Loving a drug addict can be synonymous with being a vessel filled with water. In the beginning, you may be filled with feelings of hope that your loved one will get better. You may coax them into going into rehab, convincing through the varying routes of emotions and logic, or even solicit the help of others. As a parent, you end up doing these specific things:
- Talking one-on-one with your child: You may confront your child about their addiction, explain its dangers, and tell them that they should get help.
- Setting up an intervention: Other parents prefer to involve other family members and professionals in the process. Through a planned meeting with your childs loved ones, you will all write down memories, reasons, and other things that can convince your child to get treatment.
- Court-ordered rehab: If a gentler approach doesnt work, you can resort to law enforcement to bring your child to addiction treatment. However, this is only applicable to children below 18-21 in most states.
As you do these things to no avail, your vessel is continuously being emptied, being poured out to your loved one. When they show stubbornness, there will come the point where your vessel runs empty, leaving you with nothing. This may be the time that you need to know when to give up on an addict.
How Do I Know If I Am Addicted
Understanding where on the spectrum of addiction you are can help you when admitting to your family you have a problem. You could be a functional alcoholic or addict, maybe youre dealing with co-occurring disorders or youre at an unmanageable stage of your addiction and are ready for treatment. However, you might not even think that you are addicted to the substances of your choosing. You may think that using drugs or alcohol regularly is normal, especially if you are surrounded by others who use in the same capacity. You might be okay with the fact that your finances are not where you wish they were because you are supporting your substance use. You might not even think twice if you get a DUI/OUI and continue on your way. It is normal if these things dont raise any red flags, especially if you are used to excusing your substance abuse away and accepting it into your life. But, there is a fine line between recreational substance use and addiction, and sometimes that line can be very blurred.
So, how are you supposed to know the difference? While every addict and alcoholic experiences the disease of addiction differently, many of the signs and symptoms of this disease are commonly shared among everyone. Some of the textbook symptoms of addiction include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Next Steps Towards Recovery
Its important to have quick access to treatment. If you or someone you know has an addiction, call 1-800-622-4357 for free and confidential treatment referral and information from SAMHSA. You can also seek help from your doctor, local treatment center, or support group.
Addictions often affect many areas of a persons life. The most effective treatments are comprehensive. They often have several steps that vary from person to person. These steps can include detoxification, behavioral counseling, and long-term follow-up.
Here are some ways you can support a friend or family members recovery process:
- Learn more about the substance or behavior dependency and the treatment.
- Stay involved, like offering to go to meetings with them.
- Provide a sober and trigger-free setting.
- Speak up and express concern when there is a relapse.
While you can treat addiction, in most cases, someone with addiction must want to change for recovery to be successful.
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What To Expect In Rehab
If your loved one has decided to enter a treatment program for their addiction, they can expect to first check-in and complete an intake interview. This will allow the program to create a plan tailored to their needs.
The next step involves detoxing to remove any substances from their body. This process can take anywhere from three to 14 days and can be aided by medications to ease withdrawal symptoms.
After detox, the next step involves therapy to help them adjust and develop new thought and behavior patterns that will support their long-term recovery.
Recognize The Signs Of Addiction
There are many warning signs of addiction. From noticing a change in a persons behavior to noticing a loved one acting dangerously and recklessly, the signs of addiction can hide in plain sight.
Drug and alcohol addiction can lead to problems at home, work issues, and deteriorating school performance. If a loved one shows these warning signs, it may be time to evaluate how to proceed.
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Find Out If A Loved One Is Open To The Idea Of Rehab
Once the addiction signs are observed, find out if the individual is open to the idea of entering rehab as a next step. If he or she says yes, its time to begin planning and researching treatment options if you havent done so already.
However, if they say no, or become hostile when the idea is brought up, it may be time to hire a professional interventionist. An interventionist is a trained specialist that can help family and friends get their loved ones to commit to a recovery plan they are removed from the situation and can ensure a successful transition.
When A Person Has Never Been To Treatment
Even if there have never been any earlier episodes of treatment that failed, an addict may be reluctant to go to rehab. A major reason for this is the harm that drugs do to a persons mind and personality. They rob a person of self-worth, making the individual feel helpless or hopeless.
The guilt over neglect of his responsibilities and the knowledge that he has harmed others are additional burdens. In every case, a lot of money has been spent on drugs that could have been used for education, children, business, or other positive purposes.
A friend or family member trying to get someone to rehab may have to convince the person that the valuable, loving person he once was can come back. The relief he needs lies in an effective rehab program, and the sobriety that he wants in his heart is on the other side of this relief. No matter what any addict says, he does not want to be an addict.
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Analyze Where You Are
Its coming down to the wire. If all previous attempts have failed, our number one solution will be the last ditch effort to getting your loved one off of drugs, and giving them the health and attention they need to recover. By taking a step back and looking at the last few weeks or months of events, youll be able to better determine if your efforts are proving useful or if you need to take one more stab at this.
How Can I Help Someone Whos In Denial About Their Addiction
Ultimately, the decision to change is up to the individual. You can help your loved one face their substance abuse and get the help they need, but in the end, its up to them to put in the hard work. Seeking drug rehab in Agoura Hills is only part of the battle recovery is an ongoing process.
With that said, there are certain approaches you can take to help an addict in denial. If they dont work, you may have to try again at a later date. But its important to follow through with consequences for refusing treatment, otherwise, you can fall into the trap of enabling. For example, if your loved one refuses rehab, you can ask them to leave your home or stop paying their bills.
Below are some of the ways you can help an addict in denial:
- Organize an intervention. Organized interventions can be extremely powerful in getting your loved one to accept help. But, they must be well-thought-out and include a professional interventionist for the best results.
- Pursue involuntary commitment. California is one of the states that allows a parent or loved one to involuntarily commit an addicted loved one to a drug and alcohol rehab program. You can learn more about this option here.
- Follow through with consequences and let go. This is probably the most difficult decision a parent or loved one can make. However, you cant force someone to change, so there comes a point when the addict has to accept the addiction on their own terms.
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