Ways You Can Support Your Loved One in Their Recovery

Ways You Can Support Your Loved One in Their Recovery

Drugs and alcohol poison the mind of a person who is addicted to them. The powerful obsession of addiction will start to feed lies through the brain and make someone believe that they are not worthy and that no one cares about their situation.

When the belief begins to occur, the person with the addiction will act out, pull away, or lash out, which makes family and friends disentangle themselves from the turmoil. The goal of addiction is to make someone feel so isolated from everything else that they cherish, including people, places, and things.

When this occurs, the addiction has total control over the person and can continue to wreck them. You need to know that this description is not a ploy to justify any actions, make you feel sorry for someone, or allow you to enable a person you love who is suffering from addiction.

You need information on how to support your loved one in their recovery so that they know they have some backing and are doing the right thing by getting sober. Being alone is the worst place for someone with an addiction to be and being overly protected from their addiction will only keep them sick.

Finding a happy medium of support will not only inspire them to know they are loved and wanted, but it will give you a sense of direction to be there for them to advocate for their recovery healthily.

Learn About Addiction

The best armor you can have to combat addiction is to gain information about what addiction entails. You may want your loved one just to stop. Learning about addiction will show you that there is more than you may realize. If your loved one could stop on their own, they would most likely have already taken the initiative. Quitting cold turkey or white-knuckling recovery is not a productive way to try and stay sober.

Withdrawal, coping skills, peer support, and education must be taken into consideration before long-term sobriety can take place. Knowledge is power and educating yourself about addiction will give you the ability to know how when people are powerless over drugs and alcohol, their lives become unmanageable.

Learn About Recovery

There are many ways to start recovery, and you can be instrumental in starting that process. You can find rehabilitation facilities that will cater to someone’s recovery or research what 12-Step programs are. Stigmatizing is often part of the problem with families who want their loved ones to get sober.

Instead of the loved one getting the help they need, there could be a misconception of what recovery looks like. Understanding what the recovery process looks like might be the missing piece for the family to start recovery together.

Accept Help for Yourself

You may believe that your loved one is the one with the problem, but addiction negatively affects everyone. Getting help for yourself is a loving gesture indicating that you are trying to understand what your loved one is going through and what you can contribute to the process.

One of the problems that could keep someone from getting help with their addiction is feeling like they are damaged and not wanting to cope with the pain of feeling forsaken. Through receiving personal guidance, you are letting them know you comprehend there is a problem, and you will do what you can on your end to assist with improving the situation.

If you are willing to accept individual therapy or even attend family therapy, you are letting them know that you will do whatever it takes to mend the family unit. Find a therapist for yourself or start attending Al-Anon meetings to focus on what you can do to detach with love and stick to your bottom lines to better your emotional and mental state.

Accept Your Part

Obviously, you are not to blame for the family member’s actions and words. What you can look at is how you interact with them and their addiction. Are you enabling them by providing them with a place to stay, money, a cell phone, gas, or transportation? If you are, then you are contributing to the problem.

You believe that you will prevent them from dying on the street if you provide them with these things. What you need to realize is that you may only be keeping them from hitting their bottom with codependent and enabling behaviors, which could hinder them from getting the help they need.

Instead of looking at the worst-case scenario, you should start thinking about the best-case scenario of them starting their recovery process. Addiction is painful for everyone, and you will need to remove yourself from the problem so that you can put your aim on the solution.

Edify Them Through Recovery

A person does not rule their addiction. The addiction rules your loved one. Keeping this in mind can give you a better idea of how sick your loved one is instead of treating them like a bad person. There will be a long road ahead with their recovery that all starts with the cessation of drugs and alcohol.

Once they stop using drugs and alcohol, this is where you will need to lend them the support by letting bygones be bygones while still putting boundaries into place. More importantly, you will need to uphold your limitations as a sign of your love for them, even though they may try to turn this around on you.

Remember that there is no cure for addiction, so the obsession with drinking and using drugs could continue to lurk and try to take back the power over the person. You can encourage them without criticizing their efforts or trying to do their recovery for them.

Take the high road and show them that you are proud of them, so they know they have someone rooting for them in their recovery.

Getting the help that a loved one will need in their recovery is vital for your loved one’s sobriety with drugs and alcohol. Through evidence-based therapy options and the beautiful setting of Colorado, The Detox Center of Colorado fosters connection, encouraging clients to get connected to themselves, their peers, their families, and their higher power. With the power of recovery, clients are restored to full health and experience life-changing healing. Call us today to get more information at (303) 536-5463.

 

Call Now ButtonCall Now