The Dos And Donts Of Helping A Loved One With An Addiction
Once youve noticed;the signs of addiction;in your loved one;;like an Alcohol Addiction;or an Opioid Addiction, for example;;youll need to know how to talk to and treat them in a way that is positive and helpful. There are several ways to do this, some easy to practice and others that require a little more effort and understanding on your part. Here are a few dos and donts for helping a loved one deal with addiction:
How To Set Boundariesand Stick To Them
How To Talk To Someone About Their Drug Abuse
Starting a conversation with someone about their drug addiction is never easy, but its important you come from a place of compassion and understanding. Remember, no one sets out to become an addict. Drug abuse is often a misguided attempt to cope with painful issues or mental health problems. Stress tends to fuel addictive behavior, so criticizing, demeaning, or shaming them will only push your loved one away and may even encourage them to seek further comfort in substance abuse.
Discovering someone you love has a drug problem can generate feelings of shock, fear, and anger, especially if its your child or teen whos using. These strong emotions can make communicating with a drug user even more challenging. So, its important to choose a time when youre both calm, sober, and free of distractions to talk. Offer your help and support without being judgmental.
Dont delay. You dont have to wait for your loved one to hit rock bottomto get arrested, lose their job, suffer a medical emergency, or publicly humiliate themselvesto speak out. The earlier an addiction is treated, the better.
Express your concerns honestly. Emphasize that you care for the person and are worried about their well-being. Offer specific examples of your loved ones drug-related behavior that have made you concernedand be honest about your own feelings.
Staging an intervention
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What Not To Say To Your Loved One
- Avoid approaching the person in public or when he or she is under the influence.
- Avoid judgment and blame. Those suffering from an addiction often feel shame and guilt associated with substance misuse, and family members should be accepting and open-minded.
- Avoid being aggressive or confrontational. This behavior could push the person away.
As tempting as it may be to continue making excuses for your loved ones behaviors, CRAFT encourages you to let the person face the consequences of his or her actions. Lying for the person will only cause more harm in the long-run.
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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How To Help Someone Get Into Rehab: A Step
When someone you love is struggling with alcohol or drug addiction, it can be challenging to know how you can help them. One thing you cant do is step into their life and make a change for them, although recovery is something they will need a support system to get through. While loved ones can be a huge help during recovery, the acknowledgment that drugs or alcohol have become a problem, and the steps toward sobriety, usually have to come from the individual. You can still learn how to get someone into rehab and help them take those steps or seek a court-appointed ruling to get someone into a drug or alcohol rehab center if theyre presenting a danger to themselves or others.
Heres what you need to know about identifying the problem and getting someone into an addiction treatment center in various scenarios. For guidance through this process, call us at252-596-0584today.
Stop Your Enabling Behavior
Nobody wants to think that they have caused their loved ones addiction to progress even further. However, there is a fine line between being supportive and enabling their addiction. Its understandable to feel sorry for someone who is struggling with the financial consequences of addiction and decide to step in with an offer to pay a few bills. While that may make you feel good at first, it quickly becomes a problem as the addicted person begins relying on you more and more to support their habit.
If someone you care about has a substance abuse problem, one of the most important things you can do to get them to enter a rehab facility is to stop making excuses that allow them to continue using. As hard as it may be to see them struggle, you arent helping them get better by giving them money or doing their work for them. By making it difficult or impossible for them to get their hands on their substance of choice, you can often force them to begin considering getting clean.
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How To Help A Drug Addict Who Doesnt Want Help Seek Recovery
If you do stage an intervention, be prepared to follow up immediately. Prepare the logistics to make it easy and quick for addicts to begin treatment. This might include providing immediate transportation to a treatment facility.
Another way to coordinate recovery is to consider the financial aspect. Gathering information about health insurance, and looking for availability at a treatment facility can be excellent ways to help a loved one.
Alcohol Or Drug Addiction: How To Help Someone
When someone you love is struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol, it may seem like theres not much you can do to help. Perhaps youve tried to show the individual how their drug addiction is impacting everything in their lives, but they just arent ready to see it. Or, maybe youre just unsure how to help someone. Dont let this get you down its common to struggle with thoughts like What can I do? or Did I do enough? or Have I done too much? when someone you love is struggling with a substance abuse problem, especially when that is paired with mental illness.
Loving an addict through his or her addiction is hard enough on the family members, friends, and support networks that put themselves out day-after-day to help the individual. While every situation that involves alcohol or drug addiction and helping someone is different, there are some basic guidelines that you can follow to ensure youre doing the best you can to help someone with an addiction. For example:
If youre thinking, Ive already tried all of these things, and NOTHING seems to work, Youre not alone! Addiction is a challenging disease that can leave those of us on the outside feeling like we have tried it all, and nothing has worked. But dont give up. Helping someone with addiction certainly requires patience and understanding as you navigate the road to recovery.
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Addiction Counseling: When To Seek Help
Addiction counseling is something that anyone;with an addiction problem should seek out and have ready access to.;Seeking treatment;can turn a persons life around, helping them take the right steps to manage and/or end their addiction. It can help them understand their drug or alcohol addiction, figure out how to deal with things that lead to their problems, and generally go on with their lives in a clean and sober manner.
Often, the biggest hurdle to breaking free from addiction is making the choice to seek help. When should someone get;addiction counseling? When is the problem something that can be helped; by counseling? A person might have these questions and be unable to answer them; however,;it is not something that is terribly difficult. A person should seek addiction counseling when they can no longer take care of their problems on their own. When a person is addicted to a substance and cannot live their lives without it, or;needs a substance in order to get through their day; they should seek addiction counseling or a drug rehab. When a person has hurt themselves,;or the people they love, or;feel that they are in danger of hurting someone; they should seek addiction counseling. When a person has lost time at work, been fired, or can no longer perform the functions that they have always been able to perform; they should seek addiction counseling.
Educate Yourself About The Disease Of Addiction
The first thing you need to do when a family member struggles with alcohol or drug addiction is to educate yourself about the disease of addiction. Addiction is classified as a mental illness. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individuals life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors compulsively despite harmful consequences. Your loved one may not understand or deny that they have a problem with addiction. The more you understand addiction, the more you will be able to manage the situation. There is a vast array of information on addiction that you can consult to learn more. You can also join a support group that is designed to help loved ones of people with addictions like Al-Anon or Nar-Anon.
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How To Talk To Your Loved One About Getting Help
If youre worried about your loved ones drug or alcohol problem, there are some things you should remember as you approach him or her:
- If you can, approach your loved one when he or she is already trying to quit using. This means that he or she has acknowledged the problem and wants to get sober.
- Express your concern in an empathetic and caring manner.
- Remain calm, regardless of the response you get.
- Suggest treatment options and express your willingness to attend family therapy with the person, if desired.
Realize Theres A Lot About Substance Abuse To Learn
Having feelings of fear, worry and anger is understandable and normal. As with any other chronic illness, the more informed you are the better you will be able to support your loved one. You can help them, and yourself, by educating yourself. Learn more about substance use disorder, interventions, treatment methods and recovery programs. And know that now is not the time to nag, preach or lecture your loved one about what they should have done, how things could have been better or how wrong they are.
Seek professional help on how to approach your loved one about their addiction so they can get treatment for it. Assistance in Recovery is one resource in our community that offers advocates who can help coach you on ways to do this that work. They can also explain the variety of treatment options out there for your loved one many of which include the involvement of family and others who are supportive.
HealthPartners alcohol and substance abuse recovery treatment programs in Minnesota and Wisconsin include:
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What Should You Look For In A Rehab Center
When choosing a facility for addiction rehab, there are a few things that cannot be compromised:
- Medically-assisted detox: Addiction treatment necessarily involves detox, and the rehab you choose for addiction help should offer patients access to safe detox that mitigates the risk and the symptoms of withdrawal.
- A complete continuum of care: The rehab you choose for addiction help should offer stages of treatment to allow a patient to successfully recover and be eased back into their normal routines
- Contextual, tailored treatment: Theres no place for one size fits all treatment solutions in the addiction rehab industry. The facility you go to should build a personalized treatment plan for each patient, taking into consideration unique concerns like community factors, co-occurring conditions, and lifestyle factors, amongst others.
Dont: Violate Their Privacy
In taking care of yourself and attending therapy, you may be tempted to vent about your loved one with an addiction. While you should be as honest about your feelings as possible when getting therapy, its important to respect their privacy. This is especially relevant when discussing someone with addiction with friends or family.;
Make sure the person is okay being talked about and having their struggles discussed. If you attend counseling with your loved one, make sure you dont reveal what was said in session to others. If your loved one attends therapy or counseling on their own and dont want to discuss what they talked about in session, respect that and dont push them for details.;
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Tips For Finding The Best Drug Addiction Treatment For You
Remember that no treatment works for everyone. Everyones needs are different. Whether you have a problem with illegal or prescription drugs, addiction treatment should be customized to your unique situation. Its important that you find a program that feels right.
Treatment should address more than just your drug abuse. Addiction affects your whole life, including your relationships, career, health, and psychological well-being. Treatment success depends on developing a new way of living and addressing the reasons why you turned to drugs in the first place. For example, your drug dependency may have developed from a desire to manage pain or to cope with stress, in which case youll need to find a healthier way to relieve pain or to handle stressful situations.
Commitment and follow-through are key. Drug addiction treatment is not a quick and easy process. In general, the longer and more intense the drug use, the longer and more intense the treatment youll need. And in all cases, long-term follow-up care is crucial to recovery.
There are many places to turn for help. Not everybody requires medically supervised detox or an extended stint in rehab. The care you need depends on a variety of factors, including your age, drug-use history, medical or psychiatric conditions. In addition to doctors and psychologists, many clergy members, social workers, and counselors offer addiction treatment services.
Contact An Addiction Professional
It would help to reach out to professionals like Coastline Health Behavioral in Orange County, CA. Professionals have a lot of knowledge and experience, which could be the key to encouraging the addict to seek help. Oftentimes detox is required, for information on ultra rapid detox this article lays out the phases of this method and compares it to standard detox processes. A licensed and experienced treatment professional will be able to guide you to the most suitable solution for the individuals case.;
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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.
Important Ways To Convince An Addict To Get Help
Many people who struggle with alcohol or drugs have a difficult time getting better. There are many reasons why these people do not get the help they need to get better. Many family members who see their loved ones struggle have a very difficult time in getting their loved ones assistance. Here are six suggestions on how to convince a person struggling with alcohol or drugs to get the help they need to get better.
1. Family Intervention
The most popular way to get someone the help they need is to do a family intervention. This is when family members and an interventionist get together with the addict to tell them how they love them and wish that they get help to get better. Each family member takes a turn and tells the person how special they are and that they need to get help. The person who is struggling listens and hopefully they become convinced to get the help they need.
2. Talk To The Person On What Will Happen If They Do Not Get Help
3. Use The Services of A Professional Or A Former Addict
Try to find a professional or even a former addict who has “Been There” to talk to the person. This is similar to Step Two, however instead of warning the person, these professionals can use their skills to talk and try to reason with the person. These experts are usually trained and can use a proactive approach into trying to convince the addict to get help. The goal is to try to reason and talk with the person so they can get professional help.
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