When someone in recovery is dealing with addiction problems, it can be emotionally taxing. It’s hard to stay supportive when it feels like recovery is impossible.
But, there are several reasons why you should stand by someone suffering from drug or alcohol addiction. Recovery is possible: there’s hope.
If you’re struggling with addiction support for your loved one, here are four reasons to not give up:
1. Relapse doesn’t mean failure.
If treatment didn’t lead your loved one to recovery the first, second, or even third time, does that mean it failed? Not necessarily. If you’re helping someone with addiction, recognize that relapses happen, but they don’t mean failure.
Like with many types of progress, recovery rarely happens in a straight line. Imagine a road trip. To get to your destination you make turns, get on and off highways, and sometimes you have to go left before you go can go right.
Recovery is similar. Between 40% and 60% of people treated for substance use disorders experience at least one relapse. That doesn’t mean that recovery is impossible. It just means every path to recovery is different.
2. Recovery professionals understand addiction better than ever.
The Surgeon General says: “Addiction to alcohol or drugs is a chronic but treatable brain disease that requires medical intervention, not moral judgment.”
Understanding how addiction works is vital if you’re supporting a loved one through recovery. This means recognizing their addiction as a disorder, and not thinking of it as a character flaw. Addiction is rooted in a chemical imbalance in the brain, not a lack of willpower. Remember that your loved one is someone who is struggling.
3. Involvement from loved ones is critical.
More than 90% of individuals pursue drug and alcohol rehab treatment following an intervention by friends and family. Loved ones getting involved can be the first step toward recovery for many people suffering from substance use disorders.
Recovery requires a full commitment from the individual, as well as people who are close to them. Your encouragement can be the push that carries someone in your life through recovery.
Family and friends have an important role to play in the recovery process. There are plenty of resources that can help with family support for addiction, including counseling programs for loved ones of those in recovery.
4. Treatment works.
Fifty percent of adults who have substance use disorders have been clean for one year or longer. But reaching remission may take multiple rounds of treatment, and no one style of treatment works for everyone. It’s important to stay motivated and act as a consistent source of support, even if multiple rounds of treatment are necessary.
Now more than ever, it’s clear that proper medical treatment works for people in recovery. Remission is possible if the proper steps are taken.
Even though recovery is full of ups and downs, the most important thing you can do for your loved one is not give up hope. Coupled with professional medical treatment, your support can make the path to recovery easier for your loved one.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use disorder, we can help.
Call 1-800-RECOVERY today to learn more and get started.
