When someone close to you—whether they’re your friend, relative, partner, or colleague—is struggling with addiction, it can affect their relationships, work, and daily life. It can be especially tough to watch them spiral into their addiction.
If you know someone in your life is dealing with such struggles, you probably want to help them overcome their addiction and put his or her life back together. However, it’s not unlikely that your offer of help is met with denial, defensiveness, or even hostility. It can be difficult for your friend or loved one to accept that they have a problem that needs dealing with. It can also be a daunting task to go down the path to recovery.
As someone who cares for them, your support is helpful and important, so doing what you can to help is vital when it comes to their recovery. It’s essential to understand how to know if someone close to you is, in fact, struggling with an addiction, and how you can effectively help them with their recovery journey.
How to spot the warning signs
Addiction is a kind of mental health condition where the brain chronically relapses by engaging in compulsive behavior that is usually destructive or damaging. Like any condition, there are signs and symptoms you should look out for to determine whether someone you know is struggling with the issue. If you aren’t sure whether someone close to you is struggling with an addiction, look out for these warning signs:
- Isolating themselves from those close to them or suddenly changing friend groups
- Secretive behavior like lying or stealing
- Problems develop with their work
- Normal habits change
- Dramatic mood swings
- Withdrawal from social activities or hobbies
- Becoming angry or defensive when asked about their habit
- Physical changes, like the appearance of being intoxicated more often, memory problems, rapid weight fluctuations, and unusual grogginess or tiredness
Get them professional help
Those who have addiction problems can be in denial or become hostile when asked or confronted about their habit. They may not be swayed by your offer to help, either because there could be a lack of trust or feeling like they are being controlled. If this is the case, it is probably necessary to seek out professional help. Your friend or loved one could need the help of a psychologist, doctor, rehabilitation facility, or a sex therapist like Houston Sex Addiction in order to start on the road to recovery. If possible, offer to connect your loved one with a professional so they don’t have to take that first step themselves.
Be compassionate and trustworthy, not an enabler
In a case like addiction, the idea of “tough love” won’t do any good. In fact, it can do much more harm than good, because it can cause the person suffering from addiction to feel even more isolated and drive them back to their vice. Support is critical in making them feel empowered and capable of overcoming their problems.
Showing compassion and building trust is one of the best ways to help your loved one get back on their feet and seek help. You want to make sure they know you aren’t judging them so they can open up to you, and you want to be compassionate so they feel as though they can trust you and rely on you.
It can be easy to cross the line from supportive to enabling though, which is not what you want to do. Most addicts only begin to fully realize how their actions cause consequences when they’re face-to-face with them, and preventing them from realizing the true consequences will only harm their recovery journey.
