Limitations on Helping an Addicted Loved One

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There is only so much you can do to help an addicted loved one on their road to recovery. This is a personal journey for them, one they need to go on by themselves. Of course, they need support, love and understanding but understand that families of an addicted loved one need support too. That constant bickering, guilt and shame you feel because of a loved one’s addiction will not help in either sides. While you have be strong for that person, you need to have your own support system as well and remember the three C’s of addiction recovery. You did not cause the addiction, you cannot cure the addiction and there is no way you can control the addiction. So how can you influence recovery if you do not have control of it? How do you establish the line between support and enabling?

 

Remember that you can’t make an addict quit. You may call for intervention but you can’t force your loved one to quit substance abuse. Most of the time, the loved one is defensive about the problem and would hardly accept that it exists. Even when treatment is involuntary, as some states allow, you won’t be able to get anyone sober by force. Commitment is essential because in the end, it is the person that will be thrown back into the realities of life and have to learn to deal with it. They have to commit to making the necessary changes and keeping it at that.

 

Just as you can’t make them quit, you also shouldn’t do the recovery work for them. You can’t prevent relapse and recover for the drug addict. You may have been doing your child’s homework and projects for a long time but when it comes to getting Austin drug and alcohol treatment, they have to get treated themselves. Just as you can’t grab that inhaler and except your asthmatic child to breathe better, so can’t you do the work of recovery for an addicted loved one. What happens when they are in chronic relapse centers in Austin is different when they move out of rehab. Addiction has the capacity of getting into the brain and compel a person to hide, lie and manipulate others to continue with their drug abuse. Simply put, there is just no logic to be found in addiction. We also learn from others who deal with substance abuse in their own family. Many have written books to help family members of loved ones as they themselves battled with an addicted loved one in the family for decades. One of these people is Carole Bennett, MA. She wrote “Reclaim Your Life: You and the Alcoholic/Addict after dealing with substance abuse in her own family for more than 20 years. She reveals how family should not babysit a person in recovery. They may participate but, she notes, only from an arm’s length. Any Texas drug and alcohol rehabilitation center will also teach you that it is unacceptable to tolerate violent behavior. You need to protect yourself, your family and your credibility. You must not let the addiction ruin your own life as well and this includes the need for boundaries and consequences. Sometimes this means letting them go until they let go of the addiction, accept and work on the changes they need to make.

Find More : https://www.brcrecovery.com/