Encouraging a person to stop their drug taking can be a very hard and sometimes thankless task. It needs to be approached with great care and with a real plan.
We all know how worthless it is for advice to fall on deaf ears and this is bound to be the case with certain approaches in trying to help struggling addicts. But there are specific, proactive actions that you can take regardless of where your loved one is at in their addiction. There are no hard and fast rules here because different personality types will call for different approaches. One valuable guideline might be to always use a caring approach instead of a threatening one.
If a person is in complete denial of their addiction, then there is little that you can do other than focus on your own behaviours and actions. The best that you can do in this case might be to communicate your boundaries with the person and let it be known that you won’t be bailing them out of any jams. A formal intervention is unlikely to produce an immediate change, although it might be a step in letting the person know how much everyone cares for them.
If the person admits they have a problem but is unwilling to act to help solve it the person is technically still in denial, but they just aren’t willing to change yet. The fear of change, the fear of life without chemicals is too great for them, even though they know that they have a real problem. They are caught between a rock and a hard place. Repeated talks can convince someone at this stage to take that first step for help.
If they completely admit they have a problem and want help then this is complete surrender, and represents someone who is ready to change. Get them to a treatment centre or a 12-step meeting.
We all know how worthless it is for advice to fall on deaf ears and this is bound to be the case with certain approaches in trying to help struggling addicts. But there are specific, proactive actions that you can take regardless of where your loved one is at in their addiction. There are no hard and fast rules here because different personality types will call for different approaches. One valuable guideline might be to always use a caring approach instead of a threatening one.
If a person is in complete denial of their addiction, then there is little that you can do other than focus on your own behaviours and actions. The best that you can do in this case might be to communicate your boundaries with the person and let it be known that you won’t be bailing them out of any jams. A formal intervention is unlikely to produce an immediate change, although it might be a step in letting the person know how much everyone cares for them.
If the person admits they have a problem but is unwilling to act to help solve it the person is technically still in denial, but they just aren’t willing to change yet. The fear of change, the fear of life without chemicals is too great for them, even though they know that they have a real problem. They are caught between a rock and a hard place. Repeated talks can convince someone at this stage to take that first step for help.
If they completely admit they have a problem and want help then this is complete surrender, and represents someone who is ready to change. Get them to a treatment centre or a 12-step meeting.
