Recovery - What the Family Should Know

1. A person has to stop using completely before he/she can begin to recover. Very often people need medical treatment to help them stop using. They may require detoxification in order to prevent any physical or mental damage. Weaning a person off their substance does not work. Going ‘cold turkey’, or stopping without medical assistance can work for some people and in stopping some substances. However, it can be a very dangerous practice and people have been known to die or be left with brain damage from uncontrolled seizures. Extreme delirium tremens can place so much stress on the heart and other organs of the body that damage can be caused. It is always best to seek medical advice from a doctor that is addiction aware. A person’s previous experience of withdrawing from their drug should be taken into account.
2. Once a person is detoxified, this does not mean that they are ‘cured’. The addict will often promise that they will be able to do it on their own. Although this intention is sincere, it is a symptom of their denial. They are denying that they have got a serious addiction and are powerless. Those helping the addict should recognize this. It should be pointed out to the addict that he/she have tried to do it on their own before without success.
3. Ongoing treatment and aftercare is required in order that sobriety is maintained. This treatment can take many forms. There are in and out-patient programmes, attending self-help 12 step programmes such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous or Gamblers Anonymous. The addict needs ongoing support and guidance for the rest of their life….one day at a time.
4. Alcoholics/drug dependents/gamblers can never drink/drug/gamble again. They will never be able to resume recreational use of their substance or activity again. If they do, sooner or later, they will deteriorate to an even worse position than they were in before.
5. Support the treatment method your family member chooses. You may feel that the family’s support and love alone should have been sufficient for recovery. If your family member had diabetes, you would not expect the family to be his sole support and neither would you resent the doctor who treated him. Involve yourself in treatment as much as you are invited to do so.
6. Don’t get involved in evaluating treatment centers. The last one that an addict goes to is always the best one. Implicit in this is the implication that the previous treatment programmes ‘didn’t work’. The addict is trying to make recovery an ‘outside’ job, instead of an ‘inside’ one. Someone or something outside myself is responsible for getting me well; as opposed to I am responsible for getting myself well. Most treatment programmes offer the basics and, once you have checked their basic credentials, support the treatment team.