|
Addiction Help
For the Struggling Addict
By
Patrick Meninga
 Drug
addiction can affect nearly anyone because it has so many different avenues of
attack these days. You have kids and teenagers who are smoking marijuana. There
is alcohol everywhere in our society and the pressure to drink can be
tremendous. Then there are painkillers, which have taken over the world and
become the new gateway drug among young people. Opiates have become more popular
than smoking dope among today's youth. So given that the problem is so
widespread, what can we do to reach out and help others who are struggling? How
can we help addicts who are caught up in a cycle of addiction?
The first strategy is to confront
the person. Of course this can be difficult to do because many times you will be
treated as a threat instead of someone who is genuinely trying to help so you
might have to decide if it is worth it. In some cases you might want to just
maintain the peace but at other times if someone is truly out of control or a
danger to themselves then you must set those fears aside and confront them
anyway. The goal is to see them get help, not to stand by and watch them self
destruct.
There is no real way of avoiding
a confrontation as there is no method to get them to ask for help indirectly. If
you want to see someone change then you must talk to them about it. Formal
interventions can be useful in some cases but they rarely pan out as well as
planned. At best they might be a step on the path towards recovery, but don't
expect to see instant success right away just because the whole family
confronted someone together in a loving manner. They can be useful and they
might actually help but don't think that an intervention is a magic bullet -
it's not.
What can really help the
struggling addict in the long run is for you to change your behavior towards
them. What you want to do is act in a truly healthy manner and to do this you
must not enable them in any way. This means that you might have to take a stand
on some issues and put your foot down in cases where in the past you might have
helped them. For example, if a struggling addict has children and they come over
and beg for money so that they can provide for their children - do you give it
to them? Some people might think it is compassionate to give them money because
it's for their kids but this is actually hurting the addict and their children
in the long run. Because they are actively using drugs and alcohol, the money
you give them is actually supporting their habit, even if indirectly. Just
because they played the "kids" angle on you does not mean that they are not
still wasting money on dope.
So there are usually codependency issues involved
when it comes to a struggling addict and the best thing for the people
involved is to get healthy and set some boundaries. Make it clear to the
addict what is not acceptable behavior and outline specific actions that you
will follow in order to not enable them any more. If you need help with
setting healthy boundaries then you might want to check out an Al-anon
meeting. The people there can help you with dealing with a struggling addict
and they can show you how to behave in a healthy manner so as not to enable
them at all.Helping a
drug addict can be counter-intuitive for some people because many times we
need to show tough love and let them face the natural consequences of their
actions instead of bailing them out of yet another problem.
And now I invite you to
learn more about
addiction help.
Visit
http://www.spiritualriver.com/
Webpage by
Paul Susic
MA
Licensed Psychologist Ph.D. Candidate
(Health and Geriatric Psychologist)
|
