Substance Use and Co-Occurring Mental Disorders National Institute of Mental Health NIMH

how to help someone with a drug addiction

The pathway to healing and recovery is often a journey that can progress over multiple years. Addiction not only involves the individual suffering from the substance use disorder, but their partner, their family, and their friends as well. Even if an intervention doesn’t work, you and others in your loved one’s life can make changes that may help.

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“Help” can mean many different things, from providing a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on to specific tasks, such as giving reminders to take medication or providing a ride to the doctor. Come to an agreement about your role and the types of things you both agree are reasonable. While it can be frustrating, remember that the decision to change is theirs. A person gabapentin: uses dosage side effects warnings with an addiction is much more likely to be open to thinking about change if you communicate honestly, and without being threatening. The exception to allowing for consequences is if your loved one is doing something that could be harmful to themselves or others—for example, drinking and driving. Trust is easily undermined, even when you are trying to help.

How do the best treatment programs help patients recover from addiction?

Encourage your friend or loved one to talk to their doctor about using treatment programs, online therapy, or support groups as part of their recovery. Because addiction can affect so many aspects of a person’s life, treatment should address the needs of the whole person to be successful. Counselors may select from a menu of services that meet the specific medical, mental, social, occupational, family, and legal needs of their patients to help in their recovery. Comorbidity is the occurrence of two or more disorders or illnesses in the same person. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the likelihood of a mental illness diagnosis doubles for individuals suffering from a substance use disorder. Your partner may be more willing to talk about their depression or anxiety with you or a professional than talk directly about their substance use.

Tips for finding the best drug addiction treatment for you

As recovery progresses, it’s important to help them reclaim the talents, hobbies, interests, goals, and dreams they may have had to set aside due to their illness. Eventually, the illness should be seen as only one part of who they are, and not what defines them as a person. Long-term treatment and recovery will last for months or even years. Overall progress and setbacks during recovery can extend the duration of treatment. Consider joining a support group, for instance, such as Al-Anon or Nar-Anon. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) offers a variety of resources designed to provide insight and support for families of addicts.

Be prepared, though, for the possibility that your colleague will dismiss your concern. Still, it’s important to let the person know you are receptive to talking any time. Easily adapted for everyday use, it’s an approach cannabis marijuana national institute on drug abuse nida that respects a person’s struggles while inspiring them to make a change. While setting boundaries won’t cure your loved one of their drug addiction or guarantee they seek help, neither will spending money.

how to help someone with a drug addiction

Avoid trying to lecture, threaten, bribe, or punish the person. Getting angry or making emotional appeals will likely only add to the user’s feelings of guilt and reinforce their compulsion to use. BetterHelp is an online therapy service that matches you to licensed, accredited therapists who can help with depression, anxiety, relationships, and more.

Ask other people involved not to feed into the destructive cycle of behavior and take steps to make positive change. Treatment may include counseling, education, job services, family services and life skills training. For example, Mayo Clinic offers various addiction services and has a thorough team approach to treating addiction.

  1. A successful intervention must be planned carefully to work as planned.
  2. When this happens, it can be useful to stay with the urge until it passes.
  3. Whether it’s illegal substances or prescription medication, you can’t force anyone to stop abusing drugs.
  4. Detoxification is not equivalent to treatment and should not be solely relied upon for recovery.
  5. What’s needed is an approach that is more collaborative than confrontational—reaching toward a goal everyone can be happy with.

Addiction therapy that uses CBT focuses on helping people understand how their beliefs and feelings influence their behaviors. It works by helping people change the thought and behavior patterns that contribute to substance use. CRAFT is an evidence-based method for helping families get help for loved ones. It https://sober-house.org/dmt-uses-side-effects-and-risks-2/ has replaced traditional interventions as the preferred method of helping people with addiction get the help they need, such as therapy. You may also want to consider if anyone in the list of friends and family should not be included. Be upfront about your history of drug use when seeking medical treatment.

Periodically, convey your concerns in a kind and respectful conversation and encourage your loved one to get help. Remember, however, that change is a long-term process, much of it occurring internally, and it can take time for the motivation for change to build to the point of taking noticeable action. Another important tool is education about treatment possibilities. Of course, you have to find the right moment for the conversation, and it is definitely not when your loved one is high or hung over. Whatever you say, never call someone an “alcoholic” or addict.” It’s not just a stigmatizing put-down, it actually limits how people can see themselves.

Seeing this from you, the person you love may be able to find hope that things will get better for them, too. It can be easy to feel devoted to helping someone get out of drug addiction, but you need to take care of yourself first. If you are not taking proper care of yourself, you won’t be able to help someone else. Even if the person you’re supporting slips up, try to remain positive. Use supportive communication to explore what led to the slip-up, and then figure out how to avoid it in the future.

It’s sometimes a delicate balance, but don’t rescue or enable the person by taking on things they should be handling for themselves. Keep offering gentle reminders that they (and not you) are ultimately in charge of their life. Once this approval is given, don’t be afraid to offer feedback regularly.

You don’t want to make them feel like you’re checking up on them or assuming the worst about their condition. You also don’t have to make their addiction the main focus of every conversation you have. The more knowledge you have about addiction, the better you’ll be able to communicate. Learn more about addiction from reliable medical sources, and try to understand your loved one’s point of view. After you have made it clear you want to help and the person is receptive, consider specific ways you can provide assistance.

Compassion acknowledges a person’s pain and conveys caring and love; it reduces the person’s shame, which removes a major obstacle to seeking help. ” or even blamed yourself for your loved one’s struggle with addiction. But dwelling on circumstances outside your control will only sap your energy and damage your mood. Instead of searching for someone to blame or asking questions with no easy answers, learning to accept the things you can’t change can help you focus on the things that you do have control over.

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