Living With Those Who Cope: What To Expect from Families with Addicts

Alcohol and drug addiction is a disease that both affects the individual and the community. They cause a wide array of illnesses, some of them fatal. People close to addicts get affected through the addict’s behavior and how these people adjust with them. Even the impression of a society with addicts here and there is often not a good place to live in.

How Families Act

There are a handful of ways that families deal with someone’s addiction. Normally, it’s separated into two types: One that supports the addiction, usually to maintain what function they can get. The Second is a family who is trying to either confront or isolate the drug addict, also in an attempt to recover some function. One thing is certain, they are all suffering from a reduction of their quality of life.

On the prior case, where the family supports the addiction, some act as if the addiction is not as severe. You may want to point it out but you’ll be returned with denial. Another kind is of codependency, where the functional addict is fully supported because they are the breadwinner.

The latter one had family members tip-toeing around their addicted loved one. You might see them distancing themselves from the addict, or witness them confront the addicts. Violence may occur and it’s your prerogative to call the authorities when that happens.

What Can You Do For Them or About Them?

There are many things you can do. You can choose to help or show your concern. The fact is that it’ up to you whether you want to take action. In that sense, here are a few tips on how to act.

• Avoid name calling, accuses and judgments. They know well and truly what’s happening
• Understand that though the addict is the one causing it to him or herself, there are a lot of other factors that pushed them to it.
• Educate yourself about addiction and if possible, recovery from it.
• Never enable them, addicts will use any excuse to justify their addiction
• Do not protect the addict from the consequences of their actions
• If the family approaches you to participate in an intervention, so do. Your presence is enough
• As much as possible, don’t be negative towards the family or the addict. They already have it bad and it might increase their feelings of guilt, furthering the problem.
• Bring your concern to support groups like the Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. It doesn’t have to be a family member to approach them before they could help.
• If the addict is consuming illegal drugs, discreetly inform the authorities. If they can’t deal with the addict, they can deal with the source.

Those are what you can do as an individual. A healthy community is not one who shuns the addicts or isolates them. Instead, a good community should acknowledge that addicts are inflicted by a disease caused by many factors. If everyone abides by these guidelines, it won’t be long until a community is free of factors that push addiction.

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