There’s nothing easy about being married to a drug addict.
When you really love someone, you always want them to be okay and you never want their self-destructive behavior to take too much of a toll on them. But, you’ve also got to take measures to protect yourself, your relationship, and your kids if you’ve got them.
Helping your spouse fight addiction is complicated and you’ll have to work at it every day, but it’s important to know that you don’t have to do it alone. Today, we’re going to give you 4 things to do to help your spouse get on the road to recovery, according to mainorwirth.com.
1. No Enabling
If you’re taking this fight seriously, you’ve got to cut out any behaviors or situations that might enable your spouse to start using drugs. You almost have to take on the qualities of an addict yourself to fully understand what abstinence feels like.
You always want to console your spouse in the event of a relapse, but don’t make the environment so comfortable that they feel that there aren’t any consequences for their behavior. They need to understand that their addiction affects the entire household, including you and your children.
2. Talk About It Every Day
Keep an open dialogue with your spouse. Any healthy relationship should rely on communication, but it’s especially important when someone is struggling mightily with an outside demon. One of the best things that you can do for them is to listen when they need to vent.
3. Learn As Much As You Can
To be able to help them fight this disease, and it is a disease, you should try to learn as much as you can about the addiction. It can take many forms and each individual deals with it a little bit differently.
There are more than enough resources online that can tell you what behavioral patterns to look for when someone’s abusing, how to handle an overdose situation, and what to do when you find drugs around the house. The more you prepare, the better you can handle these situations.
You can also find resources that help you broach the subject of going to rehab. It’s something every spouse dreads doing, but you have to remember that it’s for their own good.
No matter where you are, a rehab facility is nearby. For instance, if you’re in Scottsdale, just type “Drug Rehab AZ” into Google and see what comes up.
4. Support Groups
There are support groups available, not only for addicts themselves, but their spouses as well.
Attending sessions can be helpful in finding out how other people deal with their spouses’ addictions and also helping you feel like you’re not alone in this. It’s easy to lock yourself away in your relationship, but lots of people go through similar situations.
Married to a Drug Addict? You Have to Look Out For Yourself Too
Being married to a drug addict presents a unique set of challenges, but these types of relationships can be just as loving and supportive as any other, sometimes even more so. Going through something so profoundly lifechanging as drug addiction can bring you and your spouse closer together than you ever imagined.
If you’re going to get through it, you’ve both got to use all of the resources available to you. Follow these tips, but never hesitate to ask for help and find support when YOU need it.
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