SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS
RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE
Alcohol and drug addiction was once thought of as a severe lack of willpower to stop using substances. Today, we understand that addiction is a disease and it can have severe negative consequences for those who struggle to manage the disease. Substance Use Disorders, once referred to as substance abuse or dependence, affects all ages, races, genders, sexual orientations, socioeconomic statues, etc.
It is possible for you to recover from a substance use disorder and gain confidence in your sobriety. Therapy can help you recognize unhelpful thinking patterns or triggers that impact your substance use disorder. Therapy also teaches productive skills to help manage symptoms and if you are experiencing co-occurring disorders, therapy helps provide you an adequate structure to develop skills needed. Therapy can assist you in learning boundaries and how to develop healthy relationships.
SOMEONE I LOVE HAS A SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER
You may not feel you know how to help a loved one who is experiencing an addiction. Maybe you have felt like your loved one isn’t listening to you or they don’t care about you. Maybe you have felt that the more you try to help the worse it becomes.
Addiction is not only complex for the person experiencing it but it also greatly impacts those around the person. Healthy family and friends are so beneficial to the person dealing with addiction that it is essential that family and friends seek their own assistance and support.
Therapy helps you help the person you love but also care and love yourself through this process. You will gain the insight and knowledge on the complexities and intricacies of addiction and how your role in the relationship is being impacted. Therapy can teach you useful boundary setting and coping skills.
Consider engaging in therapy even if the person with an addiction is unwilling to receive treatment at this time. Therapy can be an essential part of your self-care routine and may help you feel better equipped to manage some of the stressors and issues that can come up in your relationship with this other person.