subject: Knowing How To Combat Addiction [print this page] Many of us have someone that fights with the disease of addiction. For a long time it was believed that self-destructive behavior like substance abuse, compulsive gambling, and unsafe sex was simply caused by a moral failing. Medical doctors now know that addiction is actually a condition, and that is good news for addicts. Instead of giving addicts a justification for how they act, thinking of addiction as an illness gives hope. With the acknowledgement that addiction is a disease, those of suffer from addiction are able to seek ways to recover through addiction rehab and become normally functioning people.
The very first thing that family members must do to help the addicts in their lives is to completely refrain from enabling the addict's addictive actions. Most often it is the addict's parents or spouse that will feel guilty and helpless, and end up giving the resources for the suffering person to continue using, but it could be anyone. The disease of addiction makes those of suffer from addiction do things they don't want to do, to get things that they don't want to get. This can even include manipulating the loved ones they care about the most, so that they can keep up their self-destructive behavior. The person is forced to look at the harsh reality of their disease, after the enablers in an addict's life stop being complicit in their loved one's disease. This is an uncomfortable time for friends and family as they watch the addict they care about deeply experience pain and can not offer help, but it is vital for addiction rehabilitation that they do not interfere and offer a more comfortable way.
Now is the time when the people in an addict's life must comprehend that they too are powerless over their loved one's disease. The friends and family who have been watching and waiting can step in and start helping them recover, when an addict has run out of methods to get more and is willing to get help. Addiction is an insidious disease and the last person to realize how bad conditions are is usually the addict themselves. Addicts are masters of rationalization, justification and selective memory. Many addicts suffer through years of addiction while telling themselves that it's "not that bad". Any assistance given before the addict reaches a point of desperation and reaches out for help on their own is usually without effect. Recovery can begin, however, when the point of willingness is reached. The best thing that concerned loved ones can do at this point is to help the person they love enter an addiction rehab.
In addition to helping addicts endure detox, spending time in an addiction treatment and rehab provides addicts with many other resources for their recovery. Becoming a member of a recovery community within the treatment center gives the person in recovery a sense of belonging and shared experience that they most likely haven't felt long since their addiction commenced. The treatment center counselors give guidance and hope, especially in counseling sessions when the recovering addict get a chance to vent and explore issues that they may have kept hidden due to fear or shame. Perhaps most importantly, staying in a rehab can prepare the addict to go back to society, by exposing them to supportive groups for people recovering from addiction.
