You likely experience varying emotions dealing with the addict. One moment you fear the addict may die of an overdose; a moment later, you are angry because the addict is wasting money on drugs, sleeping in late, or refusing to work. It’s frustrating and painful to watch helplessly as someone you care about falls prey to the negative and possibly catastrophic consequences of addiction.
While the addict deals with the consequences of addiction, your struggles are just as important and deserve attention. Here are ways to help you cope with the stress of dealing with the addict:
Expand Your Knowledge of Addiction. Topics Covered in the Next Several Chapters Include:
• Why and how addiction develops.
• Why addicts continue to use despite the mounting
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Referral to a physician for medication can be helpful if you are struggling with anxiety or depression.
Attend Support Programs
Nar-Anon (http://www.nar-anon.org) and Al-Anon (http://www.al-anon.org) are valuable support programs for family and friends of addicts. Virtually everyone in attendance is dealing with similar emotional struggles related to an addict’s inappropriate behavior.
The topics are varied and far-reaching. A common topic is that you may believe you are at fault for the person becoming an addict, refusing to stop using, or refusing to seek treatment. Other topics include recognizing and coming to terms with your fears, guilt, anger, and feelings of helplessness. Enabling and codependence are commonly discussed. Solutions that worked for others may surface.
The support these programs provide is invaluable.
These programs teach that while you can encourage and support the addict, you are not responsible for the poor choices the addict makes.
An extensive list of support programs is available at http://bit.ly/1QHfwcp. You can read about the topics discussed at Nar-Anon meetings at
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However, addiction is that very illness. Addiction somehow changes thinking from rational to irrational. The irrationality worsens as the addiction deepens in severity. What seems obvious to most everyone may have little meaning or make little sense to the addict. Don’t expect the addict to think rationally.
Arguing may not get you anywhere.
Develop Healthy Behaviors
Learn ways to take better care of yourself. Exercise, healthy eating habits, establishing regular sleeping patterns, and associating with others who also want to become healthier are essential attributes of taking care of oneself.
You cannot help the addict if you are not properly taking care of yourself.
Develop Appropriate Expectations
All medical illnesses have a range of severity from mild to severe. Becoming well is usually easier to achieve for illnesses with milder symptoms, at times without medical intervention. An example is hypertension (high blood pressure). Lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, reducing salt, and exercising, can often correct mild hypertension without medications. Severe hypertension may require treatment with several medications and may still not produce the desired
Although I have been given the knowledge I gained awareness that addiction truly is an illness. My thoughts and feelings will definitely be more tolerant and caring, all while showing concern to those that I may be blessed to be a part of their care in the future. Fortinash, K. M., & Holoday Worret, P. A. Eds. of the book. a. The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of Substance-related disorders and addictive behaviors.
It is not uncommon to view drug addiction as a problem that is created and maintained by the drug addicts. Most of
...e or social group for being an addict if it is not fully understood that they are trying to recover from their addiction (Methadone Cons).
Therefore, when I work with substance abusers I will show empathy, encourage and validate their successes and their feelings about any failures. In addiction, I will help the person learn from their failures and normalize the situation. Furthermore, I would attempt to ensure that the person had several coping strategies in place, to help when he or she finds themselves in a difficult situation. Moreover, I intend to ensure the client has all the tools he or she needs to succeed while getting to the root of their problem through counseling.
This expirience has definitely enhance my learning in nursing. After visiting this NA meeting I feel I understand a lot more how they work and especially how they can be of a great help to some struggling with addiction. As Nurses we can work in substance abuse clinics where we will encounter many patients with this problem and in order for us to help any patient in their recovery; we need to be informed first of the different resources available to them in the community. With what I have learned from this experience I will most definitely encourage any of my patients to join any of these self-help groups in their journey to recovery. I will also recommend their relatives or friends to joint a group as well, such as Al-Anon, which is a similar
There are many options when it comes to recovery, for example it provides addicts a way to get moral support and sober-living help from others that are suffering from the same neuro-disease. One of the most important of recovery is support groups and meetings, which are set up nationwide. Two of the most popular groups are Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA). These groups branch out and offer different types of support .Discussion meetings; a group leader choses a topic about recovery that the group will discuss. Another type of group is a speaker meetings; an addict that has been through recovery will share tips and experiences with the group. AA and NA groups are based off the 12-Step Program. The 12-Steps are a set up through a spiritual aspect. To pass a step one must complete the task given I the step. The first step is, 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable. The task in this step is to show addicts that using the substance are wearing on their life. The 12-Steps also help addicts reconnect with family that they might have hurt in the process of the addiction. The eighth step states, Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Last is, having...
When people hear the words drug addict, these words have negative connotations and stigmas attached to them. People visualize a person who does not care about anything, including family, work, or commitments, except for obtaining money to buy drugs to get high. However, there are many people who are drug addicts that maintain a normal, functioning life. Before we can examine why these people are addicted to drugs, one must first define the word addict.
Watching anyone struggle with addiction is indeed difficult, and being connected personally may be even more so. Loosing family or loved ones, and friends to addiction and eventually jail or possibly death can be devastating. The effects are wide spread and touch many lives often felt very deeply for a long time, some for a lifetime. What can be done to help these people, to assist the families and society is ever evolving. This group of addicted offenders should be targeted for intensive and rigorous treatment. Courts and prosecutors have increasingly been making an effort to identify such addicts, and to induce them to enter into criminal justice based treatment.
There are many programs in the community that can provide those services. Some of those services include; employee assistance programs (EAPs), support groups, such as 12-step programs (Alcoholics Anonymous [AA] and Narcotics Anonymous [NA]) and peer support groups, inpatient treatment programs, outpatient treatment programs, individual counseling (Crowley, 2013). These programs are used to help bring the nurses back from their use of destructive substances to once again integrate back into society in a healthy way and also regain their ability to practice nursing.
Drug addiction is more complicated than medicine thought in previous years. It’s not because someone is weak or unable to control themselves. They are chemical such a dopamine in the human body that makes the process difficult. The brain works in a neuropath way and drug interrupt the normal process which stops the frontal lobe to work as it should. Treatment isn’t done right and patients tend to repeat their habit after they get out of rehab. Psychological treatment is not as effective as chemical injection for dopamine to reward the brain. However, even after the treatment is complete, it will be a life struggle to stay away from drugs since the brain will always look for a simpler way to reward itself.
Alcoholism and drug addiction have obvious and well documented effects on the substance abusers. Prolonged abuse of drugs and/or alcohol will damage a person’s physical health, impair his or her mental functioning and damage the spirit. But how will these adverse effects impact the addict’s immediate family, and how will the damage manifest itself?
The chances are that we all know or have loved ones with an addictions to either drugs or alcohol. Still today, one of the biggest challenges is being able to talk to that person about their addiction. Even though I personally have not had the opportunity to speak to a loved one or acquaintance about an addiction. Research shows when confronting a person with a problem; it takes preparation, patience, and being totally honest with that individual. Talking to someone with a dependency is something that most people avoid because people like myself would not want others mending in our lives; we, even, tend to believe that it is not our problem how much our f...
Main Point: The effects on a person after they become addicted to something can be small, or they can be great, depending on the length of time they are exposed to the addictive behavior or substance and what caused it. The addiction affects the addict’s health, career and relationships. I can tell you from personal experience with having family members who were addicts, that I was traumatized growing up. (Personal story about couple arguing here.) According to Roxanne Edwards of Medicine.net, “In terms of effects on the body, intoxication with a substance can cause physical effects that range from marked sleepiness and slowed breathing …to the rapid heart rate...” In addition, psychologically they can have suicidal thoughts or elation depending on the addictive substance or behavior. This is why it is important for the addict to seek help because they cannot get rid of the issue on their own. Most of the time, addicts go through some sort of rehab treatment and when they are released they are instructed to go to meetings that help with the aftermath of addiction. Just a few of these groups are places like Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous, or even Celebrate Recovery. Although some places believe that these programs do not work, it is well worth mentioning that the success rates depend on the want to of the person working them. They have to want to remain sober or free from the addiction or they will go right back to it. Alcohol Rehab.com puts it this way, “Failure to
The personal problems that I just asked you to imagine are the main triggers of prescription drug abuse. Victims of prescription drug abuse are just like all of us, and they deal with the same things that all of us deal with.
In conclusion drug addiction is a very terrible and challenging problem. It affects individuals, families, and the people around them. It is important that drug addicts realize that they must want to stop and seek help for the problem. The drug addict needs the support of friends and family, so they can make it through this process. The process to recover from drug addiction can take a lifetime. There is hope for a drug addict who wants to change their life for the better.