Addiction destroys lives. It is an age-old truth. The effects of substance abuse have a profound neurological impact. And it causes addicted individuals to often hurt those close to them. This strains relationships and ruins families and friendships.
But why do addicts hurt the ones they love? Well, it is because they are suffering from a disease. Addiction causes them to lose the ability to make rational decisions and behave in such ways. However, you must understand that these actions stem from a complex disease, and do not reflect their personal values. As such, you must do everything you can to help them overcome this condition.
In this guide, we discuss addiction, how it affects relationships, and ways to deal with it. Read through to the end, as it will help you support your addicted relative or friend through their struggles. You can make the difference in their healing process.
We know how difficult it is to see a loved struggle with addiction. To help you cope with this difficult situation, we suggest understanding the psychology first. If you know how addiction affects the brain, you will have a better knowledge of how to break it as well.
To understand addiction psychology, think of the reward system. It influences the brain to create rewarding stimuli. Harmful substances heighten this feeling. Nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, and other drugs cause dopamine to flow in the brain’s reward pathway. This is several times more pleasurable than a natural reward.
When the brain experiences dopamine rush, it associates this feeling with addictive substances. As a result, the attraction to drug use gets stronger, which deepens addiction. This leads to impaired judgment and a lack of impulse control.
Once you know how addiction influences the brain, it is easy to see why it feels unbreakable. Harmful substances completely take over the reward system. It increases cravings for the dopamine rush. If these cravings are not satisfied, addicts turn to harmful behaviors. This can lead to a breakdown, which includes hurting their loved ones.
It is common for addicted individuals to shut down emotionally. When your loved one is struggling with substance abuse disorder, they might feel shame, guilt, or trauma. This can cause them to detach from society and become emotionally numb.
Knowing how addiction substances impact brain functions can help you understand why addicts hurt their loved ones. It is the drugs taking over their actions, and not their personal choice. This might help you guide your loved one through their healing process.
As we said at the start, addiction ruins relationships. This disease takes an emotional toll on loved ones. It causes behavioral changes in addicts and leads to financial and physical stress.
Addiction can lead to emotional numbness. This can take a heavy toll on someone suffering from substance abuse. They might feel helpless and frustrated when going through this disorder. Moreover, it impacts an addict’s family and friends as well. When your loved one turns away from their feelings of guilt and shame, they grow distant. It creates a gap between loved ones, which severely damages emotional safety and creates trust issues. This can be an extremely heavy toll to bear.
Addiction may influence your loved one to display behavioral changes. For example, they might start lying and manipulating to satisfy their cravings. Other common behaviors include showing signs of aggression and neglect. These changes can also highlight the gap between their intentions and harmful actions. They might not even notice these actions when under the influence—such is the strength of addiction.
When your loved one suffers from substance use disorder, it strains relationships. It is not uncommon for addicts to turn to stealing to satisfy their cravings. On top of this, medical bills pile up if they go to rehab.
Addiction creates physical strain too. Individuals suffering from this complex brain disease often turn violent. They might show volatile behavior or drive recklessly. These actions significantly damage relationships and have negative consequences.
Your loved one might hurt you unknowingly when they suffer from substance use disorder. Possible reasons for doing this include denial, defensiveness, codependency, and emotional distance. As such, drug addiction can lead to emotional and physical abuse.
When an addict goes into denial, they refuse to acknowledge that they are trapped in a bad cycle. They might become defensive and shift blame onto others. This can escalate things and cause them to hurt their loved ones.
Codependents enable addictive behaviors. They may supply your loved one with drugs, alcohol, or money and encourage their addiction instead of offering rehab support. If you try to free your addicted friend or relative from this cycle, they are likely to reject your help and end up hurting you.
You already know how addiction causes emotional numbness. Feelings of shame and guilt create a distance between you and your addicted friend or family member. Knowingly or not, both of you get pushed away from each other. Even if you offer help, they might not accept it because they are emotionally shut off. They continue to be trapped in their harmful cycle and end up hurting loved ones.
When a person gets addicted, it affects their loved ones as well. The addiction ripples through their entire network of well-wishers and impacts the emotional and physical healths of everyone involved.
Substance abuse affects mental health and delivers emotional pain. Watching someone you love struggle with addiction to drugs or alcohol can be heartbreaking. It leads to anxiety, depression, and burnout for both the addicted person and their loved ones. As a result, addiction damages mental health all around.
The impact of addiction extends to physical health as well. Substance abuse can lead to several physical health conditions. These include cancer, stroke, lung disease, heart disease, insomnia, and high blood pressure. Watching a loved person fight addiction can also cause stress for their family and friends.
The negative effects of addiction ripple through everyone in a person’s life. It affects children, extended family, and social relationships. Many people also turn away from addicts, which leads to awful experiences for everyone involved.
Although difficult, you can still maintain a relationship with your addicted family member or friend. You can ensure boundaries, communicate, and let go of feelings of resentment to help your loved one fight the complexities of addiction. Keep in mind that your support and presence can make the difference in their healing process. Having you by their side can convince them to get clean and quit using drugs and other harmful substances for good.
Healthy boundaries can go a long way in ensuring a good relationship with your addicted friend or family. This shows them that you won’t tolerate their harmful behaviors. At the same time, you can help them understand that you are there for them.
An example of setting healthy boundaries can be to stop loaning them money. You can also make it clear that you won’t allow drug or alcohol consumption at your house. This will help your loved one understand that addictive actions are off-limits, and can convince them to quit these habits.
It can help to have open and honest communication with your addicted loved one. Lend them your ear and listen to what they have to say. Do not blame or judge them for their addiction. Instead, try to show concern for their well-being. You can also hold regular conversations with them when they are sober or relaxed. This can help them overcome the challenges of addiction and return to a normal lifestyle.
It is normal for feelings of resentment to creep up towards your addicted friend or relative. However, it can damage relationships beyond repair. As such, refrain from showing such signs towards your suffering friend or relative. Try to let go of your anger and stay patient. This can encourage your loved one to continue on their path to recovery from addiction. For your own calmness, try to exercise or practice mindfulness. This can provide emotional stability and help you work through resentment.
It is difficult enough to watch your loved one battle drug and alcohol addiction. Make sure that you do not lose yourself when offering them support. You can read up on addiction and the importance of self-care. This can help you inspire your loved one to complete their recovery process.
Look at addiction like the disease that it is and read up on it. You can take help from books, documentaries, or support groups to learn about addiction. This knowledge will be valuable and let you see addiction in a new light. This can help you offer the right support to your loved one struggling with substance use.
At the same time, make sure you look after yourself. You already know how the effects of addiction can ripple through everyone connected, no matter how remotely. This is why you should look after your own health. You can follow self-care strategies such as therapy or maintaining hobbies to keep your own health in check.
Another benefit of looking after yourself is that you can inspire your addicted loved one. When they see you being strong even during this troubling time, they might want to change themselves for the better. You can support them through this period. Show them the right path and talk them through completing their rehab. Avoid enabling any of their addictive behaviors. Slowly but surely, your suffering friend or relative will come out of the darkness that is addiction.
It is okay to seek help for addiction recovery. Don’t shy away or try to handle everything by yourself. This can become overbearing quickly and worsen the situation. Instead, you can talk to support groups or consider therapy and rehabilitation for your loved one.
The Retreat can help and support your addicted loved one to overcome addiction. We are committed to creating a healthy community free of addiction. Our individual programs are designed to help addicts break free of substance abuse, so that they can live an improved and healthy lifestyle.
At the end of the day, remember that addiction is a complex mental health disorder. It has severe psychological impacts that can lead someone you love to hurt you. However, it is due to the influence of harmful substances; it doesn’t necessarily reflect their personal choice. You can try to set boundaries and communicate with your loved one to maintain relationships. At the same time, look after yourself when supporting a friend or relative through their addiction. You can make things better for them, but this will only be possible if you ensure your well-being too.
For professional help, get in touch with The Retreat. We work to ensure your loved one turns away from substance abuse and lives a healthy life full of normalcy. Visit our website for more information or call us today to get in touch.