What the family of a drug addict needs to know

Drug addiction is a vice that doesn’t just affect the addict – it affects those close to him too. Drug addiction leeches the family not only emotionally but financially too.

Finding out someone close to you has a substance abuse problem is shocking, to say the least. So many emotions are at odds with each other; more often than not, the family starts revolving around this addiction.

As a family member to an addict, you might have thought of these common questions.

Why can’t he/she just quit?

Is this my fault?

How can I help?

I don’t know how to help. Where can I seek help?

Will he/she ever be clean?

These questions can be answered in the following way.

A drug rehab center is the best place to seek help

Alcohol rehab or meth rehab, it doesn’t matter – a drug rehab is the best place for your loved one to be right now. If you have not already admitted him/her to a substance abuse center for addiction treatment, you need to do so soon.

Rehabs are the right place to recover for the addict. They have a trained and skilled staff along with a medical team who will assess the patient’s addiction first and then design an individualized program accordingly.

After the initial assessment, a drug detox will be carried out to rid the addict’s body of the drug. Recovery cannot start if the person is still under drug influence. After this, the patient will be shifted from the drug detox center to rehab where the actual therapy for recovery will begin.

It is important for you to know drugs affect the brain. Only a professional therapist can assess the extent of damage caused by the drug use. More often than not, the patient is also diagnosed with a mental illness that could be the reason that led to addiction in the first place. If this is the case, therapy will be focused on tackling this issue first to improve the chances of full recovery and avoid relapse.

Therapy may be inpatient or outpatient, depending on the extent of drug use. It may last for several months or even a lifetime in severe cases.

Luxury rehabs offer additional comfort to their patients so that they can recover in peace. The amenities offered to patients provide a healthy and nourishing environment where they can focus on developing new skills to help them later in life and cope better.

After admitting your loved one to a luxury drug rehab like Affinity Recovery, you don’t have to worry anymore. The patient will be in safe hands, surrounded by compassionate and great people who will assist him in recovery.

You are not to blame

Unless you took part by actively encouraging drug abuse, you are not to blame. Thoughts like, “I should have known somehow” or beating yourself up will only serve to mentally and emotionally drain you of energy.

Your family member is away for substance abuse treatment because they had a drug problem. They used the drug voluntarily, it was their choice. No need to beat yourself up. Instead, you need to focus on the rest of your family for now.

Watch out for the impact on the rest of the family

Once the addiction is discovered, it becomes difficult not to revolve the family around it. In such cases, especially if you are the parent of an addict, it becomes easy to neglect your other kids or family members.

Many families try to fix things with good intentions but instead end up worsening things and indirectly help the addict keep up his addiction. It is vital you keep an eye out for any such unhealthy behaviors.

Another impact on suffering families is the mix of emotions they feel in such events. They could be feeling guilt, worry, helplessness, and even anger.  You need to control these emotions and not let them cloud your judgment.

Family therapy

As a part of rehab, family therapy programs are held to create an environment where the family becomes a part of the recovery. Here, sensitive issues and problems can be discussed without any pent-up tension. The family provides much needed support to the patient so that they can move forward.

Family therapy is not all about supporting the patient though.  Educational seminars and programs are also held that aim to educate the whole family about addiction and the particular substance abused. The information provided also tells the family what treatments are performed on the addict and why they are performed.

Family therapy at a rehabilitation facility may be emotionally charged, but it is not intended to counsel the family members. The main focus is the patient only; it is important to remember this.

If you feel this addiction has put the functionality of your family under duress, you can always seek professional family counseling, marriage counseling or individual counseling.

Patience is the key

Therapy takes a long time to show results and there is no quick substitute for it. You need to be steadfast and patient with the addict. Try not to set up your expectations too high too early.

With regular therapy from the right place, positive results will start to show in the drug addict, but you need to remember to be patient and not lose hope. For example, many patients in heroin rehab relapse after the first attempt. However, with persistence and patience, they overcome their addiction after readmitting into the rehab.