If you’ve discovered that a family member is using drugs or alcohol, you know that it’s one of the world feelings in the world. First of all, it’s scary. You might have heard terrible things about drugs and what they do to addicts. The even scarier thing is that these stories were probably not exaggerations. Drugs really can make you crazy or injure or kill you. They really do ruin lives.
The good news is that you can if you have found that someone you know is using drugs, there is always time to do something about it. No one is too far gone to make a change and start moving back toward sobriety and health. It’s better if you can catch addiction early, of course, but you should never let anything dissuade you from getting help for a family member or friend that needs help recovering from addiction. You just have to know the steps.
Here are five steps to recovering from drug addiction.
Finding out what is going on
You can’t actually start to fix drug addiction until you actually know that it is present and understand what is going on. You may have suspicions that your loved one is using drugs, but you need to determine the facts. What drugs is your loved one using? How often are they being used? This takes a lot of open, honest communication, but it is the vital first step in getting the addict clean.
Help take stock
Next, you have to help the addict observe his own life and how it is going. Is he really happy? Is he healthy? Help him take stock and actually observe how he is doing. He isn’t going to be able to do anything effective about his addiction if he doesn’t actually see that anything is wrong.
Decide that something needs to change
You may have heard the statement that an addict has to hit “rock bottom” before he can really get help from rehab. What this means is that many people believe that an addict won’t really be willing to change and start moving towards getting clean until he has been utterly devastated by addiction. These people think that the addict has to almost die before he’ll be able to start getting better.
It isn’t true. A vital step toward recovering from drug addiction is simply deciding to make a change. This can happen at any stage of drug use. In fact, many people only try a drug once or a few times and then decide it’s not for them. Others get more deeply into drug use and then realize that it’s making them feel terrible, so they decide to stop. If someone you know is using drugs, this step is just getting that decision made.
Research drug rehabs
This step can actually be performed earlier if you’d like, but it is one of the most important steps of all. You need to find out what kind of rehabs are out there and what services they provide. Do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions until you are confident that you have found a rehab center that will be right for your family member.
Actually arrive
This step can be the hardest of all. Even after an addict has made the decision that he needs to change his life, actually doing so can be terrifying. It can take some work and further communication, but you have to get your loved one to actually arrive at the rehab and start. If you need help in making this happen, contact Narconon Arrowhead and speak to a professional addiction counselor.