How to Guide a Loved One to Getting Drug Addiction Help

drug addiction help

Around 35 million people worldwide suffer from substance abuse disorders. Being addicted to drugs is a terrible thing for the addict and the addict’s family. If you know someone who is addicted to drugs, you might wonder how you can get that person some drug addiction help. 

Getting help for an addict can be difficult at first. But there are ways you can accomplish this. Keep reading and learn more about what you should do below.

What You Need to Know about Drug Addiction

Before you can help a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, you should first learn how addiction works. Addiction has genetic and environmental roots. It is believed that some people are more genetically predisposed to develop addictions than others. 

Some people have addictive personalities. This makes it easy for them to become addicted to things like cigarettes, food, gambling, drugs, and so on. People without this genetic trait may not get addicted to anything, no matter what they do. 

It can be difficult to live a normal life with an addictive personality. Many people rely on addictions to get them through their lives. People often abuse different substances to escape certain feelings or problems. 

Suppose that a person often feels depressed or anxious. The person may abuse alcohol to escape these feelings to feel better. But this would not make a person feel better for long, and it could easily turn into a serious addiction. 

Other people may use drugs and alcohol to escape their lives. They may be unhappy with how their life is going. But drugs and alcohol are not a good way to cope.

Many people become reliant on their addictions. This makes it difficult for them to live without them. Quitting an addictive substance will cause the person to go through withdrawal symptoms. 

The Details

Withdrawal symptoms are very unpleasant and may also be dangerous. Withdrawal symptoms occur when the body tries to function without the presence of the addictive drug. This is difficult for the body since the drug has acted as a crutch.

The brain also has a hard time functioning without the drug. This is because addictive drugs change the brain’s natural chemistry and hormone levels. This may cause severe mood swings and feelings of depression and anxiety as the brain recovers.

Some addicts may also refuse professional treatment because they think they don’t have a problem. They may insist that they have everything under control. But this is never true with substance abuse

Many addicts also risk overdosing. An overdose is when a person consumes too much of a drug, and it becomes toxic in their system. This can lead to complications like seizures, heart attacks, and death. 

It is important to think about helping an addicted family member long before this happens. But helping an addicted loved one can be difficult if you don’t know where to start. There are certain things you can do to reach out to your loved one and help them. 

But you have to be careful not to enable them or push them away at the same time. 

How to Get Drug Addiction Help for a Loved One

The first step to helping an addicted loved one is offering support. But do not confuse support with enabling. Many people become enablers without realizing it. 

Enabling comes in many different forms. You may give your loved one money to buy drugs. You may accept that they have a drug addiction and not do anything about it. 

You may let them live in your house while they abuse dangerous drugs. These are all signs of enablement. Enabling a drug addiction will never stop the problem. 

It will only make it worse. But how can you support someone without enabling them? Make sure the person understands that you are there for them. 

If they need help, you should be there to support them. But helping does not mean helping them continue their addiction. If your loved one asks you for money to buy more drugs, you have to say no. 

This is a difficult thing to do, but it is the first step in helping an addict. You may need to remove your loved one from the house if their addiction does not stop. This is also true if their behavior is disrupting or endangering other members of the household. 

This is a hard thing to do. But it is often necessary for those who refuse to stop abusing dangerous drugs. It makes them understand that you are serious about them stopping their addiction. 

What You Need to Know

You may also choose to let the person stay in your home, but they have to pay their expenses. Paying for an addict’s rent, food, and other expenses is enabling them. This keeps them from taking any responsibility. 

They live in your house for free and abuse drugs however and whenever they want. But by imposing new rules, you can lay the foundation for change and action. It is important to establish boundaries as well.

Once you set your boundaries, you need to follow them. You need to show that you are serious about them. There is no point in setting up boundaries if you are going to forget about them soon after creating them. 

Make sure the boundaries are realistic too. They can help you keep your family safe. Setting boundaries can be very difficult and painful. 

But it is necessary if you want to see any change in your loved one’s behavior. You shouldn’t let your loved one’s addiction take over your life either. It can be tempting to constantly worry about your loved one’s behavior and drug abuse. 

But you have a life outside of these worries. It is important to remember that. Keeping your life together is necessary if you want to help your loved one. 

Taking care of yourself will also help you care for your loved one. 

What Else Should You Consider?

There are certain things you should avoid when helping an addicted loved one. You should avoid putting guilt on the person or intimidating them. Making the person feel ashamed or guilty rarely works.

These negative feelings often backfire and can make a person’s addiction worse. They may use more drugs to avoid those negative feelings. It is instead better to have a more supportive and loving approach. 

It is also important to explain to your loved one what options they have. They may not know what to do or where to go to stop their addiction. They may not want to know about their options or they may not care. 

But it is still important to tell them. Drug rehab centers are the best choice. 

Addiction rehab centers are equipped with all the necessary staff and equipment to help addicts. They have medical professionals that can help a person go through withdrawal symptoms. 

This is important because withdrawal symptoms can be dangerous without any support. Rehab centers also have trained therapists. Therapy is very important for overcoming addiction. 

What to Know

Therapy allows an addict to get to the root of their addiction. It helps them understand why they do what they do. Addictions usually arise when a person feels the need to escape certain emotions or problems. 

A therapist can also help your loved one learn how to cope with different things. Therapy can teach a person about self-control. Drug addicts and alcoholics often have poor self-control skills. 

They may resort to drugs and alcohol whenever something bad happens. This is in contrast to handling the problem healthily and productively. But therapy can also help with that. 

Therapy allows an addict to learn new skills and new ways to think. Many addicts have a negative way of thinking. This makes them more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. 

But a more positive way of thinking can prevent this. Cognitive behavioral therapy aims to help people think more positively. This allows them to think and behave healthily.

It also makes it easier for a person to overcome their addiction and get their life back. 

All about Professional Drug Addiction Help

Drug addiction help is important, but it can be hard if your loved one is unwilling to seek help. You need to support your loved one without enabling them. This involves setting boundaries and not allowing the person to get away with their behavior. 

A drug rehab center is an addict’s best bet. To learn more about how it works, check out our services

74 comments
  1. I always say this In addiction Support system having it van make or break a person. At the end of the day it all lies on the person. If anyone comes in to help then take it.

  2. I have always sucked at guiding people to get drug addiction help. Maybe it’s because I don’t know how addiction works. thanks for including how addiction works in this article. I’m definitely sharing this piece with my friends and family

  3. Good article no doubt. It is both educative and informative, I can easily tell what to look out for to know if someone around me is addict and I also know what to do to help the person.

  4. To help an addict, one needs to know how addiction works. Addiction is something one must understand really well before u can help whoever is suffering from it to get out of it.

  5. Great ideas and I will say they are top notch ways that can help one yo help others around him. Thank you so much detox for this.

    1. Honestly its never easy, i have never experienced one myself but i have seen cases of families who talk about it, the battles they hard and the struggles.

  6. The first step to helping an addicted loved one is offering suppor. You can tell the person to stop abusing drugs and make a way to let them a therapy.

  7. This definitely well detailed and informative enough , I have everything I need to guide anyone around me who’s a victim of addiction on getting the right help. Great job the writer of this article.

  8. Yes, it’s good to first of all get to know about addiction before helping an addicted person to seek help. Thanks for this detox.

  9. The most important aspect of this article is on how to get help for addicted people. Thanks to detox to rehab for this revelation.

  10. No addicted get free from addiction except through help. It is very important to be helped to be freed from addiction.

  11. This is a lovely article. I now know the steps to take in guiding people to ask for help when they are addicted to drug

  12. Very helpful in the family. We live with addicts in the family and most of the time we are the ones who fail to lead them to soberness.

  13. Everyone actually needs help in one way or the other. But helping someone addicted to drugs is Paramount for everyone.

  14. Help for drug addiction is crucial, but it may be challenging if your loved one refuses to ask for it. You must help your loved one while without giving them any advantages. This entails establishing limits and not letting the person get away with their actions.

  15. The first step to helping an addicted loved one is offering support because support makes the victim not to feel alone in his/her Addiction problem.

  16. I think the most difficult part when dealing with a loved one who is an addict, is supporting them when they go through withdrawal symptoms and we can’t understand the pain they are going through. Also taking care not to enable their addiction.

  17. It is important to note that the addict can only be helped if they are willing to be helped. Otherwise it’s an exercise in futility.

  18. The worst part about getting rid of addiction are the withdrawal sysmptoms. A loved one needs a lot of support especially when going through the withdrawal symptoms.

  19. The part about explaining to your loved one what options they have is vital. Someone may be addicted but unaware of the available options to help the get rid of the addiction.

  20. It’s important to help a loved one long before they become overly dependent on a drug. When that happens it’s usually too late

  21. Thank you so for these priceless guidelines on helping an addict. As good as one on one support may be , I can see that visiting a rehab center is far more effective.

  22. Withdrawal syptoms remain the most harrowing part for any loved one battling addiction. That’s when they need our support the most.

  23. This write up goes into detail on how to understand addiction and how it affects a loved one mentally. This is a must read if you have an addicted loved one. Thanks.

  24. People may use drugs and alcohol to escape their lives. They may be unhappy with how their life is going. Understanding this fact can make it easier to guide an addicted loved one out of their addiction.

  25. When most methods fail, rehab is always the best. However this depends on whether the loved one will be willing to take the rehab option or not.

  26. Getting over addiction is a marathon and not a sprint. Everything should be done incrementally in small steps for it to succeed.

  27. Thank you for emphasizing on the fact that we shouldn’t confuse support and enabling when dealing with an addict. Many people tend to get those two mixed up.

  28. Have their been any actual published scientific studies to prove that addiction can be inherited? It would be interesting to know.

  29. I appreciate the fact that you point out that drug rehabilitation centers are the best choice. They give an addict the best chance of survival.

  30. They may resist it at first, but when they are fianlly over their addiction, they will be the most grateful. We should never give up on our loved ones struggling with addiction.

  31. The approach described here of dealing with an addicted loved one is that of understanding and supportiveness. This is the best approach and helps ensure that the loved one in question is taking the process positively.

  32. Getting help out of addiction is the important thing an addicted person can do. We can also approach them with love and patience.

  33. This article is an eye opener for me, I never did know that addiction can be “genetically wired” into a person. It makes trying to help someone who is more likely to get addicted to any kind of dangerous drug or alcohol even harder, but not impossible, given if they follow the tips that have been discussed in this article, and seek professional intervention help as needed.

  34. it sometimes really appalling when addicts are overdosing. They consumes too much of the drugs which will lead to complications which includes seizures, heart attacks, and death.

  35. This is a great article explaining how to help a Loved one who is an addict. Many people have become enablers when they wanted to offer support to the loved one. Distinguishing between enabling and offering support to an addict is important.

  36. This article is so educating and helpful, it contains what’s needed to be known about addiction. Thanks for sharing.

  37. Sometimes a loved one may need help but they don’t realize it. It’s always wise to identify such situations and step in.

  38. The hardest part about trying to help someone with an addiction is the denial. many people just simply refuse to acknowledge that they have an addiction problem.

  39. To truly help drug addicts, they must be enlightened adequately on drug addiction. This goes a long way in equipping such individuals with useful information. With these steps, addiction may become a thing of the past.

  40. It is very crucial to help our loved ones with a view of eradicating drug addiction amongst y the young ones. Information plays a vital role in the enlightment program.

  41. Educating our loved ones about drug addiction is very crucial towards eradicating drug abuse in our society. However, this article is highly informative and educative.

  42. Very very informative article for all the person whether their loved ones are addicted or not it can actually help in understanding a person who is addicted to something.

  43. Thank you Detax to rehab for sharing these type of stories with all of us.These stories are really very much inspirational for many people.

  44. Thank you for the encouraging and helpful guide. Withdrawal symptoms are very unpleasant and are also dangerous. I hope that I can help other people battle drug addiction by guiding them through this. Really insightful read.

  45. This article is a very I formative and helpful, because some people whose loved ones are addicted to one substance or the other don’t know how to go about helping that loved one. Thanks for sharing.

  46. Thanks for opening up to us how one can always help those caught up in addiction… Thanks for enlightening us.

  47. The earlier drug addicts get help as to recovery the better, so as to avoid having an overdose which may lead to death.

  48. Loved this read and how it breaks down the brain chemistry of addiction. I agree that a supportive environment and sometimes tough love, are the best ways to help someone in need. Empowering addicts with options to get to the root of their problems is essential and should always be the priority, over enabling them to use more. Enlightenment and understanding are key tools for success and overcoming any hardship, or dependency.

  49. The support could come in different dimensions. In the area of encouraging the victim to ensure the various measures prescribed for him or her to get clean. Two, by also encouraging them to visit their therapist regularly.

  50. Substance addiction has a worldwide impact, with genetic and environmental factors contributing to its development. To aid an addict, it is crucial to comprehend the nature of addiction and provide assistance without enabling it, including establishing boundaries and seeking expert assistance. It is also vital to prioritize self-care when helping someone with addiction. We need to show them love and affection to help them in this journey.

  51. A kind of support system is needed when someone is suffering from addiction. The post was really helpful for anyone who is looking to guide any relative suffering from it.

  52. One of the ways of getting people out of drug addiction is by showing them love rather than condemning them. I believe with this, every other thing will work out.

  53. Thanks for the information on the 12 steps on how to guide a loved one to get drug addiction help. This will definitely come in handy especially when a loved says they are okay and they are not okay in the drug addiction.

  54. The post is quite informative regarding harsh effects of drug addiction. Anyone whose close relatives need such treatment would be beneficial for them.

  55. I think and believe that the first step towards helping addicted out of the menace is to let the person know that he or she is not in the right state. With this, every other thing will follow.

    1. Matters that deals with the helping out of the drug addicts has become so helpful to the society as many youths have languished in the usage of drugs.

  56. I never been in this situation but I’m glad that I found your article. At least now I have a clue on what to do. Thank you.

  57. I love all the bits and pieces of advice here. May you continue to nurture your readers with this kind of content 🙂 Thank you!

  58. This article is one of the best articles I have ever read about how to Guide a Loved One to Getting Drug Addiction Help. Unfortunately, there are so many people who suffer from drugs and addictions, so it is so important to help them as much as we can and of course, advise them to get professional help as well. Thank you for sharing this wonderful article with us.

  59. Drug addiction is a big issue not just for the user, but also for others around him or her. When a person has addiction issues, it is a challenge to live a normal life. If you know someone who is a drug addict, show your support. However, if they beg for money to buy drugs, tell them NO. If they can’t stop, send them to a rehabilitation center. That is the best thing you can do for them. Thank you for sharing some tips. It can be of help to people who have a family member who is a drug user.

  60. The evil effects of drug addiction should be explained in a proper manner. Counselling will always help. So, the person addicted should not hesitate to consult a doctor.

  61. Drug addiction is a very serious thing; it can even take your life. It’s very important to at least try to help your loved one. In my opinion, the person who is addicted should first realize that he needs help because it’s very hard to help a person who doesn’t understand what’s wrong.

  62. A lot of the times I have seen people who get to subdue the addictive behavior when they leave an environment and the kinds of friends they move around with.
    Have done that with a family friend a year ago.

  63. Offering assistance is the first step in helping a person who is addicted. You can explain the ill effects of drugs, and help them get proper counselling.

  64. Thank you Detax to rehab for sharing these type of stories with all of us. Additions is very bad habits for all people.

  65. It is always important to help those who go through addiction by showing them support first. The support we show will act as catalyst for them to be interested in overcoming their challenges with addiction.

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