Addiction Treatment Centers | Helping Drug Addicts Overcome Addiction

Helping Drug Addicts Overcome Addiction

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Drug addicts overcome addiction through a process.

It starts back when they are still using drugs heavily, and their life is out of control.  The first hint of breaking through their denial starts tickling their brain.  Sometimes this takes decades of heavy abuse before someone reaches this point.

Eventually a moment of surrender is reached.  The addict throws in the towel and decides to give life another chance.  Now it is my belief that if this moment of surrender is real, that will basically be the end of their drinking and drugging.  In other words, the reason that people relapse with this disease is because they were not ready to quit drinking and drugging in the first place.

That’s why they call it “hitting bottom.”  It is a moment of finality; a complete and total surrender.  The addict is completely beaten.

Until they get to this point, you could never possibly list enough reasons to quit drinking, nor could you convince them that there is a wonderful life outside of drug addiction.  They simply won’t hear you, nor will they believe you.  That’s because they are trapped in denial….stuck on the hamster wheel, so to speak.  They can’t picture their life without drugs and alcohol.  Nor do they want to.  It’s just too scary.

How we can help people break through denial

Since I got clean and sober, I have been constantly seeking better information about how to help a drug addict.  I happen to work in a treatment center with a detox unit, and so I have definitely had a lot of practice at trying to help them, as I have helped to treat literally thousands of drug addicts over the past 4 years.  And let me tell you: it’s not easy.

One of the best ways to help an addict, believe it or not, is to <em>not</em> help them.  Or to be more specific, not enable them.  This means not helping them to get more drugs or alcohol or helping them avoid the natural consequences of their using.  In other words, you might have to let them fall on their face a bit in order to really “help” them.

Remember what the key is to overcoming addiction: that magical moment of surrender.  Without it, the addict is merely playing games…they might stay clean for a short while, but unless they have experienced utter devastation and truly surrendered with their whole being, they are not going to stay clean and sober.  So get out of their way and let them find their bottom, hard as that might be.  You might just be saving their life.

Also, be sure to check out this new recovering blogger on the scene, the recovery princess.  She is detailing her journey through sobriety; looks like good stuff. 

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