According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there were an estimated 23.9 million Americans using illicit drugs. According to the Washington Post, 100 Americans die of drug overdoses every day. These statistics are startling, and with so many people using drugs, think of all the families that are affected. Addicts don’t just destroy themselves; they destroy their families as well. It is hard for families of addicts to know the best way to deal with the situation, as the addict is someone they love and they want to help. Addicts are hard to help until they are willing to help themselves.
The first thing to do is to educate yourself about addiction and specifically your loved one’s addiction. Different addictions respond to different treatments, so it is important to arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can. Once you have researched the addiction, it is helpful to search for support groups in your area that have expertise in the specific addiction. Look into both support groups for yourself to handle the problems facing you living with an addict, and also rehabilitation centers or detox clinics for your loved one.
If your loved one is not willing to seek help, sometimes an intervention can be a way to get the loved one to seek the help that they need. Always make sure a professional guides you through and intervention as a botched intervention can make your loved one commit even more to their current addiction.
Addiction is a disease and it is important to remember that once the person has become addicted he may not be able to control himself and will not be able to recover without professional help. It is important in families to not blame the addict, but to blame the disease. It is also important to help the addict to seek the professional services that will help them recover. Some programs teach families to “detach with love” allowing the addict to make mistakes and learn from them instead of the families always bailing them out and covering for them when things go wrong.
The most important things that families of addicts can do are to take care of themselves and the other family members that are healthy. It is important to not let the addict rule the family, and while you need to support that addict’s recovery, it should not be the center of the family dynamic, as everyone else should not have to stop their lives as the addict recover