What To Do About Drug or Alcohol Addiction

If someone close to you has a drug or alcohol addiction problem.

People experiencing alcohol and/or drug addictions often feel they hurt only themselves. That isn't true. They also hurt their families, friends, coworkers, employers, and others. Experience shows that for every person with alcohol or drug addiction, at least four others are affected by their behavior. However, looking at it another way - as we should - millions of Americans have a personal stake in helping "someone close" find the way to overcome drug or alcohol addiction.

The person who sets out to help someone with an addiction may at first feel quite alone, possibly embarrassed, not knowing where to turn for help. We have preserved so many wrong ideas and attitudes about alcohol or drug addiction, too often thinking of them as moral weakness or lack of willpower.

Through this website or elsewhere, you may have learned to better understand addiction and already made contact with nearby sources of treatment and recovery support. This does not mean that "someone close" will suddenly cooperate by going for addiction treatment. Those with the disease of addiction often deny they have a problem. They typically find it difficult to ask for or accept help.

If there is one thing true about substance abusers, it is that, as with all people, each one is different - different in human needs and responses, as well as in their reasons for drinking and abusing other drugs, their reactions to these drugs, and their readiness for addiction treatment.

You are in a good position to help your relative or friend, because you know a good amount about their unique qualities and their way of life. And having made the effort to gain some understanding of the signs and effects of alcohol addiction or other drug abuse, you should be in a better position to consider a strategy for helping.

Be active and get involved. Don't be afraid to talk about the addiction problem honestly and openly. It is easy to be too polite, or to avoid the issue by saying, "I am overstepping my boundaries." But it isn't polite or considerate to let someone destroy their family and life. You may need to be persistent to break through any denial they have.

You also may need to let them know how much courage it takes to ask for help, or to accept it. You will find that most people suffering from drug or alcohol addiction really want to talk about it if they find out you are concerned about them and their treatment and recovery from addiction.

To begin, you may need to reject certain myths about addictions that in the past have done great harm to those with alcohol addiction and those who would help them. These untruths come from ingrained public attitudes that see alcohol and drug addiction as personal misconduct, moral weakness, or even sin. They are expressed in such declarations as, "Nothing can be done unless the alcohol addict wants to stop," or "They must hit bottom," that is, lose health, job, home, family, "before they will want to get well." These stubborn myths about addiction are not true, and have been destructive. One may as well say that you cannot treat cancer or tuberculosis until the gross signs of disease are visible to all.

The truth is that with alcohol and drug addiction, as with other kinds of acute and chronic illness, early recognition, treatment and intervention is essential - and rewarding.

Be compassionate and patient, but be willing to act. Experience proves that preaching does not work. A nudge or a push at the right time can help. It also shows that you care. Push may even come to shove when the person with alcohol or drug addiction must choose between losing family or job, or going to addiction treatment and rehabilitation. Thousands of drug and alcohol abusers and addicts have been helped when a spouse, employer, or court official made addiction treatment a condition of continuing family relationships, job, or probation.

Enterhealth creates individualized alcohol addiction treatment and drug addiction rehabilitation plans because we know your unique situation calls for an effective one-of-a-kind solution.

Contact Enterhealth today at 800.388.4601 to schedule an admission or for more information, email us using the contact form on the left-hand side of this page.