Everyone knows addiction doesn’t just hurt the alcoholic, or the person doing drugs but also everyone else who loves that him or her. It’s hard to accept that someone you love is struggling with substance abuse. As a friend or family member, the best thing you can do is offer support and assistance for the person’s recovery. Here are five tips to help you provide that support while you heal from the incident as well.
Learn More About Addiction

If you don’t enough about the disease, then you could end up saying something that could harm or hinder your loved one’s recovery. That blow is going to hit the person hard, too, since it comes from someone s/he knows or loves. Don’t let that happen. With so many misconceptions that abound about addiction, find out what’s fact from fiction. That way, you won’t be able to hurt your loved one unintentionally.

Attend to Your Recovery

It’s ideal to find a Costa Mesa rehab center that offers family care and counseling. Having a dear friend or a member of your family coping with drug addiction puts stress on everyone. It’s also difficult to move past the trauma of seeing a loved one in the throes of their addiction to the drugs. Some drunks, on the other hand, get violent or could resort to self-harm. You and your loved ones will need to work through any negative feelings caused by the addiction.

Stop Blaming Anyone

Addiction can happen to anyone. While there are risk factors and triggers that make some people more likely to end up abusing drugs or alcohol, it can happen to the best of us. What that means is, you should stop blaming anyone for what happened, whether that’s you, another friend or family member for not being there, or the person in recovery. Move forward from those feelings. That person is also doing his or her best to fight against the addiction and playing the blame game is only going to hurt his or her recovery, as well as yours. Don’t hold let that hold you back. Get over it.

Find Your Support

You need support to get over your feelings, too. Addiction in someone you love could create anger and sadness or distrust. And while you don’t discount the fact that people can change, that doesn’t mean you can dismiss your feelings and trauma caused by the addiction. Having your own support system will help you process your emotions, so that you’ll feel lighter. Doing so will also help you forgive the person and move on.

Live Your Life

It’s hard not to be consumed by thoughts of your loved one and the addiction that the person is battling. However, you should live your own life, too. If you’ve spent your own money on the treatments, you’ve done what you can do help the person, you’ve lost your peace of mind, and more, then it might be a good idea to take a breather once in a while. Let go. Take breaks before you dive back into your life.