Family Help and Knowledge

If you find yourself in a family with at least one member with addiction issues, one of the first steps you can take is to educate yourself about the processes that play into addiction development, and ways that it can be treated. Call us now and we will help you to bring your family back together. Trust our professionals and your loved ones will be next

In the past, families and friends of people suffering from addiction were often told that their loved ones had to make the decision to get help on their own.

These families would feel forced to sit back and throw their hands in the air – praying that their son, daughter, parent or sibling would “hit rock bottom” before it was too late.

In more recent years, however, the process of the intervention has proven beneficial for many families.

An intervention is a process by which family and friends deliberately confront individuals struggling with addiction about the damage their addiction is doing to both them and the people they love.

With the help of a professional interventionist, individuals may begin to see what their addiction is costing them – in terms of relationships, finances, and personal health.

Interventions serve to introduce “rock bottom” to your loved one. Rather than waiting around and risking serious injury or death as a result of your loved one’s addiction, interventions help your family take back some control. They confront individuals with the dangers of addiction while also offering solutions to get out of addiction. Don’t take a control in your hands call us and we will come to you and will hear you.

If successful, the intervention could prompt your family member to immediately enter a detox facility – followed by a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. In the event of such a successful outcome, it is important to have already done the research to find a facility that is ready to accept your loved one into treatment immediately.

Your family’s involvement in the drug treatment process does not end once your loved one has agreed to seek treatment, however.

Families can play a superior role addiction rehabilitation by providing the loved one with a supportive and safe harbor.

There are two major types of rehab structures for the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. Family support for the recovering individual may look a bit different, depending on the type of rehab structure chosen.

These two main rehab structures include:

1. Outpatient rehab. Patients in outpatient rehab undergo addiction treatment while living at home. They make regular visits to a rehab program facility for some combination of both therapy and pharmacological treatment.
2. Inpatient rehab. Inpatient rehab programs are residential treatment facilities where patients stay overnight for 24/7 monitoring by staff personnel. Inpatient programs may either occur in hospital settings or in non-hospital settings. Hospital settings offer around- the-clock access to healthcare professionals and medical resources – while non-hospital settings often offer intermittent monitoring from visiting healthcare professionals. Inpatient rehab is better for those with severe or long-standing addictions, and better for those who also struggle with coexisting medical or mental health conditions.

If your loved one is enrolled in an outpatient program, he or she may need a safe place to stay during treatment — away from the reminders and temptations of drug and alcohol abuse.

Another aspect of family involvement in outpatient treatment includes providing constant encouragement to the recovering individual. Offering a compassionate shoulder to cry on, for instance, can go a long way to helping your loved one overcome the cravings associated with withdrawal and recovery.

Many times, those in recovery who feel alone will succumb to their cravings and go against their own desires to get well. This is due to the changes that occur in the brain as the body becomes dependent on a substance. Addiction can even lead individuals to continue their use of drugs and alcohol even in the face of negative consequences.

By providing emotional support, family members can help those struggling with addiction to recover by helping alleviate those feelings of aloneness.

If the recovering individual has decided on inpatient treatment after consulting with his or her healthcare provider, the family can still maintain an active role in the recovery process.

Below are several ways you might consider supporting your family member as he or she undergoes inpatient treatment:

1. Write letters of encouragement to your recovering family member.
2. Make yourself available for family counseling sessions.
3. Refrain from judging your family member – or from communicating condemnation to him or her.
4. Visit your family member when it is permissible at the rehab facility.

As recovering individuals regain their ability to think clearly, they may be humiliated and embarrassed by their behavior. By showing support throughout the recovery process, families can help to restore the self-confidence that the recovering family member has been without for some time.

The rehabilitation process involves addressing the components of both physical and psychological addiction. The initial detox phase is when the body rids itself of any physical traces of the substance that was abused. The behavioral and emotional components of addiction are addressed during the remainder of rehab – when therapy and counseling are often heavily used alongside occasional pharmacological treatment.

You can play a role in helping your family member through both phases of the rehabilitation process.

During the first stage of the recovery process – the detox phase – your recovering family member may experience a range of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, including:

• Physical illness.
• Insomnia.
• Excessive lethargy.
• Changes in appetite.

A few tips for helping your family member get through these initial hours of severe discomfort can be helpful:

• Play games. Keeping your loved one’s mind off of what his or her body is going through can help the time pass more quickly.
• Read aloud. Find a favorite childhood book or a new bestseller, and pass the time by escaping into a healthy fantasy.
• Try not to rehash old hurts. This is not the time to discuss why your family member may have chosen to use drugs for the first time. Conversations surrounding the addiction can lead to blame and undermine the recovery process in its earliest stages. Instead, keep the conversation on a more pleasant note. Talk about new future possibilities that will be available once your family member has successfully completed treatment.
• Try to stay awake. If your loved one is suffering from insomnia, try to remain awake with him or her. This will not only help the long hours pass, but it will also minimize the temptation they may have to sneak away and satisfy any cravings for drugs or alcohol.

After your loved one’s detox phase has ended, one of the most important tips to help your family make it through the recovery process is to keep apositive attitude. Having a positive attitude will not always be easy, as the recovery process is a difficult one. If needed, you can arrange to have your family members visit with a counselor or therapist one-on-one to relieve some of the stress they may each be feeling. In cases where your recovering family member is a teen, sessions of multidimensional family therapy have proven to be beneficial to all members of the family – as they help to develop :

• Improved parenting skills.
• Improved relationship skills.
• Improved family management.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, addiction is a chronic disease. It is a relapsing brain disease with specific characteristics – including a compulsion to continue using drugs no matter how bad the consequences are. Addicted individuals may:

• Suffer from physical illness.
• Suffer from mental depression.
• Incur legal problems.
• Lose their job.
• Fail in school.

None of these consequences matter to addicted individuals while they are in the throes of the disease, however. Families can play an important role in helping their loved one understand then power of addiction over their minds and bodies.

This is a tricky question.

One of the first requirements for successful drug addiction recovery treatment is the user’s desire to get his or her life back. However, the desire to stop using drugs is not always enough.

Addiction Changes the Brain

As an individual becomes addicted to drugs, the brain goes through a number of physical, emotional and psychological changes. These changes can:

• Disturb one’s ability to make good decisions.
• Interrupt critical thinking.
• Worsen one’s ability to control his or her own behavior.

Addiction Changes the Body

In addition to the changes in the brain, the body can experience terrible physical effects from the withdrawal of certain kinds of drugs. Recovering individuals may experience extreme physical pain in the joints and muscle tissue when drugs are suddenly stopped. As much as these individuals may want to achieve sobriety, they may find themselves unable to stop using on their own – simply since they feel the need to relieve the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms “one last time.”

Addiction is often a chronic process, much like diabetes – unfortunately, there is no easy “cure.”

It is possible, however, to manage addiction symptoms through a comprehensive treatment plan so that the addiction no longer controls one’s life on a daily basis. The treatment process may take some time, and the recovery process is often lifelong.

Some recovering individuals report that after a while, the cravings lessen and aren’t as noticeable. Others say that they continue to fight cravings on a daily basis – even years after they’ve stopped using drugs. Each individual is different, and each recovery process is unique.

There is hope for the addicted individual, however. With the proper professional and family support in place, your loved one can indeed recover from an addiction.