When you have a family member, significant other, or a friend who is experiencing addiction to prescription drugs, alcohol, or illicit substances, it can be a significant stress for your relationship. You want what is best for them, but they can often seem incapable of doing what is best for themselves. Meanwhile, your efforts to help them may only put further strain on the relationship.
Important Facts to Understand About Addiction
When someone you love is struggling with addiction, one of the most important things you can do, but also one of the hardest, is to stay compassionate and not take their behavior personally. Addiction will often cause a change in behavior, making a person less empathetic and more irritable. It can also cause them to do things you do not agree with, like stealing, neglecting work, driving under the influence, and taking risks.
These are the addiction, not the person themselves. You also want to remember that people do not become addicted on purpose. Addiction can often start from another concern, like depression or anxiety, and the dependency develops over time.
Help with addiction will generally involve encouraging your loved one to get professional treatment and supporting them throughout the process. You can do this by:
- Doing Your Own Research – Look into the symptoms and behaviors of addiction for the type of addiction your loved one is experiencing and what to expect in the recovery process. This will help you be more confident and less affected by setbacks during the recovery process.
- Maintain Trust – Although an addiction will strain relationships, it is important that your loved one can trust that you have their best interests at heart. Avoid lying or going behind their back as you help them seek treatment.
- Use Supportive Language – Addiction can often cause a person to believe that others are against them. When talking to your loved one about addiction, avoid any conversations meant to guilt or shame them and instead work on being as supportive as possible.
- Find a Balance Between Compassion and Enforcement – One of the more challenging aspects of being supportive in addiction treatment is to remain compassionate and understanding without enabling addictive behavior.
While forcing someone to go to addiction treatment will often not work on its own, you can still be supportive in helping a loved one who has decided on treatment to find a psychiatrist for addiction in Dallas and help provide the support that the psychiatrist recommends.
Aware Behavioral Health provides addiction treatment in Dallas and works with patients experiencing addictions to drugs, alcohol, prescription medication, and more to help you and your loved ones navigate the recovery process. Contact us to get started.
