5 Support Tips for Friends and Family of Drug Addicts

There is are some things which are important enough to seek information about. Dealing with a drug addict you care about is one of those things. With this in mind, we’ve made a top ‘5 Support Tips for Friends and Family of Drug Addicts.’ Read on to find out crucial information to help your situation.  

We want to help you with some vital information you may need for yourself and any of the family members of drugs addicts you know or have in your life.

Everyone has many uncertainties about what to do next when you are dealing with not only the drug addict but other family members and friends.

What do you say about the drug addiction someone you care about is dealing with? What can you do to help?

There are four types of drug addiction which is raging across the United States. You may recognize a couple of the below drug abuse issues:

• Excessive alcohol abuse is rampant right now in the United States.
• Alcohol abuse costs over $249 billion dollars each year in lost productivity, health care, and law enforcement.
• Marijuana may now be legal in several states but it is still linked to distorted perceptions, problem-solving issues and loss of motor coordination.
• Long-term abuse of marijuana can lead to; agitation, anxiety, insomnia, and more.
• Opioids are now in epidemic proportions. There were over 42,000 deaths from opioids in 2016. 40% of those deaths involved prescription opioids.
• Some of the effects of opioids include mental confusion, nausea, euphoria, and more.

How to Deal with a Drug Addict

There are ways you can tell if someone you love or care for is using drugs. If you find out they are, they are also ways on how you can deal with them.

Here are five ways you can effectively deal with a drug addict in the most constructive way you can.

1. Find out what you can about drug addiction. Keep finding out more. Learn about drug addiction and how it interfaces with the cells inside the brain.
   • Understand drug addiction is a disease. It is not something your loved one chose for themselves.
2. Try to connect with others going through the same thing. Al-Anon is a good place to start.
   • Every family member or friend may feel stressed when they try to help the addict.
   • Connecting in a non-judgemental format allows you to vent your feelings and be with people who understand your thoughts and feelings.
3. It begins with family therapy. Everyone and almost every family can benefit from family therapy. When you are dealing with a loved one who is a drug addict, family therapy becomes almost essential.
   • Family therapy is designed to break down feelings of distrust. It is also designed to build up feelings of support.
4. Participate in family and friend activities as simple as having dinner together. It has to start somewhere. Start by sharing a meal.
   • Go to the park together and walk a bit. Quality time even in loving silence can mean a lot to the person in need.
5. Keep your expectations simple. Don’t expect miracles and don’t demand perfection.
   • Try to enjoy the positive steps you see happen. It takes a long time to beat down drug addiction sometimes. Be patient but don’t enable.

Help for Families of Drug Addicts

There is always help for families of drug addicts. All you have to do is to know where to look.

We are here 24-7, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Since one in seven people suffer from drug addiction, we have learned to be ready no matter when we are needed.

We know drug interventions, family meetings, friends who confront the drug addict will need us. We are always here for you.

Family members of drug addicts sometimes start blaming each other or the addict for having the addiction.

Drug addiction does not come from weakness or choice. It is not your loved one being stubborn or defiant when they won’t quit.

Sometimes they cannot quit. They need help to quit drugs because drug addiction has never been about what they want. Drug addiction is a disease. It stems from changes in brain chemistry and electrical impulse alterations.

What Causes Drug Addiction?

To this day, no one knows what causes drug addiction. Some scientists say it is genetic. Some scientists say it is the environment. Some scientists say it is a combination of genetic variations to environments.

There are various factors which scientists think may contribute to the development of drug addiction. They are:

• Environmental factors consist of things like your family’s beliefs or attitudes. It is any family member or peers encouraged you to use drugs.
• Genetic factors revolve around when you start using a drug, you are predisposed to having a drug addiction because people in your family also have this issue. It is an inherited trait which runs in your family.

Since no two addicts or addictions are alike it is difficult to surmise and prove why some people can use drugs and never become addicted and others cannot.

But we do know a tailored therapy based on the addict’s needs gives them the best chances of recovery.

Treatment Plan Information

There are several types of treatment plans for drug addicts. It is important to remember whichever treatment option you choose should be designed to increase an addict’s coping and communication skills.

Drug addicts need to know how to manage high-risk situations so they can avoid substance abuse. Treatment options need to help them focus on their psychosocial rehabilitation needs.

Family Members of Drug Addicts

If you are a friend or family member living in the midst of addiction you may feel traumatized.

It is common for friends and family members of drug addicts to feel overwhelmed and angry.

They feel they have been lied to and betrayed.

Yet, these same family members will sometimes try to overcompensate for the addict. They may play a protector of the addict. Sometimes they blame the addict. Or they can even abuse the addict.

It is essential therapy is sought not just for the drug addict but for the family members of the drug addict. You cannot treat part of a wound. You have to treat the entire wound as well as the skin around it.

Help for Family Members of Drug Addicts

There are treatment options for the drug addicts which are quite detailed and inclusive of everything they may need.

Family and friends of addicts also need help. We are going to suggest some great family support systems for family members of drug addicts. They are;

• We talked a bit about Al-Anon or Nar Anon. These free programs are held in almost every major city or area.
• They are dedicated to providing group support to drug and alcohol addicted individual’s family and friends.
• We offer treatment to the drug addict but also incorporate and build family therapy sessions into our treatment programs.
• We assist the drug addict and their support system understand what a sober social network is about. As well as what this network will provide to them and each other.

Through it all, we work on improving the family, friends, support network and drug abuser with their communication skills. Communication can be effective and efficient in reducing conflict and fights.

Drug Addiction Help

Drug addiction help starts with the addict. Unless they want help, it is a long, uphill climb. But we will help no matter where the starting point is with your drug addict.

Every decision-making tool we teach is one which both the drug addicts and family members can use. Because every decision-tool we teach, use, and try to grow in our drug addicts helps them become stronger.

It lets them and their families begin to make healthy decisions. It successfully combines the best of therapeutic and developmental therapy so growth can occur.

There is no substitute for us or our treatment center. We make sure your loved one has the tools they need and the knowledge they can draw from to take positive first steps in their recovery.

What Does My Family Need to Do Now?

Call us or reach out to us today. That is what we are here for. We have the treatment program you need for drug addiction. What’s more, we can help with family members of drug addicts too.

The decision to go to rehabilitation for the drug addict in your family may be the easy part. The hard part is every step after that. That’s why we are there for you every step of the way.

The road is a long one in drug recovery. Sometimes there are setbacks and bumps along the way you thought you were behind you.

But they don’t have to be bigger than they are if you get help when you need it and not months or years later.

Give yourselves and your loved one who suffers from drug addiction a way forward. They will have to do the heavy lifting, but you can be there with support and love.

If we work together through family therapy and support groups we become healthy together.

Which means we can become the family we always knew we were but never had the chance to be.
Call us now so we can be with you as you take the first step.