How to Help a Loved One Battling Addiction
According to Pew Research, nearly half of Americans have a family member or close friend who struggles with a substance use disorder. It can be extremely difficult watching your loved one struggle with addiction. Not only is addiction a debilitating disease, but it can significantly fracture ties with loved ones. If you have a loved one struggling with addiction, keep reading to learn about the top 5 ways to support addiction recovery for your loved one.
At Arista Recovery, we are committed to helping patients break free of addiction once and for all. Gone are the days of suffering in silence with your addiction. Here, we help patients overcome addiction and maintain long-term sobriety so they can lead a happier, healthier life.
Contact us today to learn more about how you can start your road to recovery.
Top 5 Ways to Help a Loved One with Addiction
Stop Any Enabling Behavior
It’s essential you stop any enabling behaviors that may be fueling your loved one’s addiction. Although it may seem like you are helping your loved one when you loan them money or help them with chores, this inevitably can fuel their addiction and reinforce that they do not face consequences for their addiction.
Therefore, cut out behaviors that may be fueling their addiction or preventing them from coming to terms with their addiction. It’s important to note that stopping all enabling behavior does not mean you can’t support your loved one. This just means cutting out any patterns that are fueling their addiction in any way (whether that be financial means to avoiding consequences, etc.).
Encourage Them to Seek Professional Help
It’s important to encourage your loved one struggling with addiction to seek professional addiction treatment. This is because drug addiction is not only difficult to overcome all on your own, but it can be potentially life-threatening depending on the severity of your addiction. At a drug rehab, a recovering addict will be able to safely and effectively recover. And, learn the essential coping intervention strategies to maintain life-long sobriety.
Set Clear Boundaries
Similar to avoiding any enabling behavior, it’s also important to set clear boundaries and stick with them. For example, if you tell your loved one that you will no longer let them live with you unless they get (and keep) a job, it’s important to keep that boundary. Otherwise, you’ll only be reinforcing your loved one’s addictive habits.
Be Supportive, Not Judgemental
It’s also important to be supportive of your loved one, not judgemental. Overcoming addiction and achieving long-term sobriety involves many ups and downs. Therefore, it’s critical that your loved one can lean on you in times of need. Not only is it important to keep your loved one accountable, but show constant encouragement to motivate them to keep maintaining their sobriety.
Educate Yourself About Addiction
It can be difficult to fully understand what your loved one with addiction is going through unless you’ve struggled with drug addiction yourself. Therefore, it’s also important to educate yourself about addiction to better understand what your loved one is going through. For instance, understanding that supporting addiction recovery is a life-long journey is important. This way, you can help your loved one continue to avoid triggers, which can help them prevent their risk of relapsing as they progress along their recovery journey.
Top-Rated Addiction Recovery Center at Arista Recovery
It can be extremely difficult watching your loved one with addiction struggle. However, family support can significantly help your loved one quit using and lead a healthier life. Without a doubt, supporting addiction recovery for your loved one is essential. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, it’s critical you seek professional help.
At Arista Recovery, we are offering a range of treatment programs to help as many patients as possible achieve sobriety. From detoxification to residential inpatient care, dual diagnosis treatment, and more, we offer a wide variety of treatments. We’re here to help you every step of the way so you can take back control of your health and quality of life once and for all. Ready to start your road to recovery? Contact us today!
