What to do if you don't know what to do next?
Ultimately, if you don’t know what to do next, you can call an addiction treatment center and they can help you understand next steps based on what really works for those who are resistant to treatment. They can recommend an interventionist who is caring and responsive and who has had success with families in the past.
What are the pros and cons of patience?
Pros: With patience and unconditional compassion, an individual can connect with the desire for a better life than the one they are leading now—and the belief that they can actually reach that place of empowerment. That desire and belief, in and of themselves, are empowering and can outlive the other forms of motivation for truly lasting commitment to recovery.
Why is it important to buy in to addiction?
Because they are going to be one of their own greatest allies on the path of addiction recovery, their buy-in is critically important. California has an involuntary commitment law which allows family members to petition for a court order to send their addicted loved one to treatment.
What is the difference between forcing someone to go to treatment and applying the right pressure for them to find their inherent motivation?
The difference between forcing someone to go to treatment and applying the right pressure for them to find their inherent motivation could mean a world of difference in their recovery success. Consider how you can empower your son or daughter with compassionate intervention and professional support.
How did the family react to Denise's substance use?
The family reacted to Denise’s substance use in different ways, from anger to confusion to real action. Rebecca knew for years that an inpatient treatment center was the next right step for her daughter, but Denise consistently pushed against the option.
What to do if your loved one refuses treatment?
Below is a list of ten steps you can take if your loved one with an addiction refuses treatment. 1. Educate Yourself About the Disease of Addiction. The first thing you need to do when a family member struggles with alcohol or drug addiction is to educate yourself about the disease of addiction. Addiction is classified as a mental illness.
How to help someone with addiction?
Interventions help force your loved one to confront the impact of their addiction on themselves and the people who care about them. If your loved one is unwilling to agree to treatment, an intervention can be an impactful way to encourage them to make the right decision. 10. Take Care of Yourself. Ultimately, you can only control your own actions. ...
What happens if you don't respect your boundaries?
Many people who struggle with alcohol or drug addiction see consequences as empty threats. It is important to follow through with consequences so that they understand you are serious. You may have to take away internet privileges, financial assistance, evict them, or move out. Only you can determine which consequences will be effective in your situation.
What is the purpose of covering up for addiction?
Covering up for a loved one’s addiction is also another form of enabling. Perhaps you make excuses for your loved one’s absences at work, school, or family events. When you stop enabling someone with an addiction, they have the opportunity to fully face their consequences of their behavior.
What happens when someone refuses to stop using alcohol?
When someone refuses treatment, or refuses to acknowledge they have a problem, it is devastating to everyone who loves them and cares about them.
How to protect yourself from addiction?
Protect Yourself with Healthy Boundaries. In all of your relationships, it is important to have healthy boundaries, especially in a relationship with a loved one with an addiction. This involves taking care of yourself, understanding and valuing your needs and desires, and communicating clearly.
Is addiction a mental illness?
Addiction is classified as a mental illness. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences.
How to deal with addictions in a relationship?
There is no shame in admitting that you need help dealing with the side effects of your partner’s addiction. Seeking professional assistance can help you regain strength and clarity, so you can figure out the next steps.
What happens when your spouse refuses to get treatment?
When a spouse is addicted to drugs or alcohol and refuses to get treatment, it can feel like you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Thankfully, there are a number of things that you can do to explore options while still maintaining a respectful relationship with your spouse, such as:
What happens when your partner experiences addiction?
When your partner finally experiences the full negative effects of addiction, they may change their tune and see that there is a problem. Once their eyes are open to the realities of addiction, they might realize they are in need of treatment for their addiction.
What does cutting off enabling behavior mean?
Cutting off enabling behavior will usually lead to your husband or wife being frustrated or angry. Setting boundaries that define what will and will not be tolerated can help you identify where your limitations are. Creating boundaries also helps you stand your ground if those boundaries are crossed.
Can addiction affect anyone?
Addiction can affect anyone, regardless of age, sex, gender, or relationship status. The disease of addiction knows no limitation. Understanding the nature of addiction can help when you are deciding how to approach your spouse about their substance abuse.
Do you have to tell your spouse you are addicted?
In fact, you don’t have to tell anyone until you are ready, you just need to admit it to yourself.
Can addiction change you?
Perhaps you were completely unaware of their addiction or didn’t believe their substance use was out of control. No matter the reason, when addiction treatment becomes a topic of conversation can be complicated and messy. Addiction can change a person, turn them into someone unrecognizable, even to those closest to them.
How to help someone who is refusing help?
Here are some general guidelines to follow when trying to help someone see the light when it comes to alcohol abuse and addiction: 1. Educate yourself.
How to help an addict who loses temper?
Be patient. At times, this may be trying, but it’s necessary. An addict will likely never respond well to someone who loses their temper or seems impatient. However, being patient does not mean you should enable a user’s behavior. Know when to remain calm versus when to walk away and draw the line. 3.
How to get through to an addict?
To get through to an addict, start by utilizing resources to educate yourself about what they may be going through. The internet has a plethora of information when it comes to addiction, and many resources to contact if your questions are not answered. 2. Be patient. At times, this may be trying, but it’s necessary.
What happens if you don't place your well being first?
If you do not place your well-being first and foremost, your presence likely won’t do anyone any good. It’s important to establish healthy boundaries. When an addict’s behaviors and lifestyle are having a negative impact on your emotional well-being, it’s okay to take a step back.
Is it hard to get through to someone who is not an addict?
For someone who is not an addict, this may be the hardest part about trying to get through to someone who struggles with substance abuse. As a non-addict, you won’t understand first-hand the grip that substances can have on a person’s life.
What to do if someone stops using?
You cannot carry the person through this phase—he or she must do the work , put in the effort and care about his or her future in recovery for him or herself.
What to do if your loved one refuses to give you advice?
The first thing you should do is enforce healthy boundaries that protect you and those you take care of. The realization that your loved one is not going to stop using is devastating.
What to do when you have a loved one in the grips of addiction?
The first thing you need to do when you have a loved one in the grips of addiction is to educate yourself about the disease. Addiction is classified as a mental illness, characterized by compulsive substance seeking and using, continuing to use despite negative consequences, as well as cravings and a host of other symptoms.
What happens when you remove yourself from your addiction?
By removing yourself as a resource from your addicted loved one, he or she will have to find other ways of getting his or her substance of choice. You won’t continue to be hurt while this happens and your loved one is more likely to tire of the hustle quicker without your help to easy the situation.
How to get someone to see the harm of substance abuse?
Getting someone to see the folly and harm that is substance abuse is a process, and a long one at that. Make sure you are clear, honest and firm in implementing the consequences of not going into treatment during the intervention . Arguing with your loved one is also useless as he or she is not thinking clearly and the consequences ...
Can a loved one see the problems with using?
Your loved one may not see the problems with using and problems with his or her behavior. You need to understand how the disease of addiction works against those who have it in order to help your loved one and protect yourself.
Can you meet an addict in restaurants?
The parameters of these healthy boundaries vary between individuals. They may include only meeting with your addicted loved one in restaurants because he or she is no longer allowed in your home. This can be a great idea if your loved one has stolen from you or others in the past to fuel his or her using habit.
How does intervention help a family?
It may take time to heal emotionally, but the risks and rewards of an intervention are absolutely necessary to draw the line in the sand. Interventions deliver ultimatums and allow the family to express their concerns and their emotional pain in a constructive manner.
When all else fails, don't use guilt?
When All Else Fails, Don’t Use Guilt. It’s very easy to mix up the thought of an ultimatum, and lecturing or guilting an addicted individual into ceasing their vice usage. Under no circumstances should you attempt to guilt them into quitting their addiction.
Is denial helping anyone?
If you’re in denial, it’s not helping anyone. Even for those who haven’t dealt with a family member or a friend falling down the rabbit hole, it can be difficult to admit to yourself that their problems have gone on too long, and has become serious or life-threatening. While this doesn’t sound like it directly impacts the suffering addict, ...
Can doctors protect patients from addiction?
They’ll be better able to identify the issues and see past the excuses of the addict. Doctors will still protect doctor-patient confidentiality, but in their medical and professional opinions, they can also recommend courses of action to take, which can be very eye-opening for the addict.
Can withdrawal symptoms go with addiction?
While every single addiction is different, and potentially more harrowing than what you may find online, withdrawal symptoms and other synonymous aspects tend to go with their coupled addictions. It can help you prepare for the future and keep your eyes out for any signs of potential overdose.
Why don't people go to rehab?
When a person is severely addicted to drugs and/or alcohol they may like the feelings it gives them. They may not want to go to rehab because they refuse to. They simply just don’t want to go. If a person is severely addicted they may be so controlled by their substances that it has affected their brains from making rational and healthy choices. When under the influence of drugs and alcohol, it can completely change how a person responds to situations. What a non-addicted and rational person might find to be reasonable, such as suggesting to a loved one to seek help, this advice might not make sense to the individual that is in an altered state of mind.
Why do people not seek help?
A big reason why an addicted individual may not seek help is their denial to recognize there is a problem. Severely addicted individuals may not see their drug or alcohol abuse as destructive behavior. They may be refusing to take responsibility for their own actions, or may even blame others for their behaviors and choices. When friends, family, law enforcement, a therapist, a judge, or other authority figures are involved and recommending treatment, individuals that are severely addicted may refuse treatment and deny they need help. Refusal to admit there is a problem usually will lead to a defensive attitude when others suggest to that individual they need help.
Can you be afraid of alcohol withdrawal?
Others recognize they have a problem but fear attending rehab and going through withdrawal. Individuals in withdrawal from drugs or alcohol might experience nausea, vomiting, cramping, hallucinations, insomnia, muscle aches, sweats, chills, and other less than desirable symptoms. They may be afraid to encounter these possible symptoms and realize that taking another drug or sip of alcohol will alleviate them from their withdrawal symptoms instead.
What to do if you don't go to meth rehab?
If you have given a loved one an ultimatum and you have told them that they will suffer consequences if they don’t go into meth rehab the only thing left to do is maintain your ground and stick to it. If they continue to resist treatment, you just have to continue offering the treatment and also continue to stand your ground no matter how difficult it may be. If you gave the ultimatum of not providing housing, DO NOT let the addict come back to live with you and do not even provide a place to stay overnight. It’s important that you maintain whatever the ultimatum is that you set and do give in. The addict may come at you with a number of stories that will make you feel bad for them but do not give in. Ultimately, this will be what leads them to feel like they don’t have anywhere else to go and that they need help. This could be what leads them into meth rehab in the end.
What to do if someone refuses to help you?
Additionally, if the loved one continues to refuse you may want to consider therapy or counseling for yourself to heal from the pain that is caused by their addiction. Many rehab centers provide special treatment programs for the families of those addicted and there are also community support groups for families such as Narconon.
How to get my loved one to accept meth?
A few options are available to help you. First, you can consider an interventionist to help you get your loved one to accept the treatment and go into meth rehab. There are a number of different types of intervention methods and with a licensed interventionist you can work to get the loved one the help that they need to overcome meth addiction.
Can you go to crystal meth rehab?
Many meth addicts will refuse to go into crystal meth rehab for a number of reasons so it’s up to you as the loved one or family member to know how to get them to accept the help that is being offered. Here’s a look at what you can do when a loved one refuses crystal meth rehab.
Is holistic rehab good for alcohol addiction?
Those suffering from alcohol addiction have various options for treatment but for many, holistic alcohol rehab is the best choice. When an alcoholic chooses to get help, the effects of holistic alcohol rehab can be rewarding and very beneficial. Many rehab centers now incorporate some type of holistic alcohol rehab into their program and some….
Is substance abuse a medical problem?
According to the NIH, “Substance abuse and addiction are serious, but treatable, medical problems.” Without proper treatment, however, it can be very difficult to overcome addiction. Rehab centers provide successful and beneficial treatment methods to patients, many of whom have struggled for years with addictions beforehand. Detoxification, which is usually the first step at a….
Can substance abuse cause behavioral issues?
Behavioral issues are problematic by themselves but with the added help of substance addiction, they can be amplified. From moodiness to impulsivity, behavioral issues can only be strengthened with the use of a substance and may break up relationships along its destructive path.
