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Signs You’re Enabling Your Loved One’s Addiction

Pathways Recovery Centers • November 10, 2021

5 Signs You’re Enabling Addiction With a Loved One

Addiction is a terrible disease, and it’s only natural for you to want to help your loved ones.

However, many times when friends and family try to help people with drugs, alcohol, or other addictions, they end up making the problem worse by enabling them.

Instead of confronting them about the consequences of alcohol or substance abuse, they may prevent them from realizing the gravity of the situation.

It's important to learn how to love an addict without enabling them.

Continue reading to find out more about enabling addiction, what it consists of, and how to support addiction recovery instead.

Recommended Reading: A Guide to Heroin Addiction Treatment→

1. Avoidance

Avoidance is a large part of enabling addiction. Instead of confronting your loved one, you may just be avoiding the problem in order to cope with it.

However, it’s critical to realize that avoidance is a short-term solution and can worsen the problem in the long run.

2. Financial Assistance

One of the main ways of enabling addiction is by providing financial assistance. By paying their bills or lending them money, you may be an addiction enabler.

3. Denial

It’s never easy to admit that your loved one has a problem with addiction.

They may keep denying it, but instead of accepting and adopting their denial, it’s important to recognize the severity of the problem.

While it’s easy to convince yourself that the problem isn’t too bad, ignoring it or denying the addiction will only lead to it worsening.

Therefore, it’s important to help your loved one explain what’s wrong and why their abuse is a problem.

4. Excusing or Ignoring Problematic Behavior

A major part of enabling addiction is ignoring your loved one’s problematic behavior.

Whether they’re drinking while driving or using drugs in their home, it’s difficult to confront them.

Ignoring or excusing the behavior is easier but can lead to long-lasting damage and them avoiding recovery. Instead of ignoring their problematic behavior, establish boundaries.

Explain your boundaries, and call them out if they violate them.

5. Protection from Consequences

Eventually, your loved one has to face the consequences.

It’s only then that they will stop maintaining problematic behavior. However, you may be enabling addiction under the guise of help and protection.

For example, instead of letting your loved one’s employer know that they are high, you may call and say that they’re ill instead.

As long as they don’t face the consequences, those suffering from addiction will continue to deny their problems.

Conclusion

Enabling a drug addict or someone with alcohol abuse problems isn’t the path to recovery.

It just allows individuals to continue their behavior without facing the consequences. As an alternative, learn how to support addiction recovery instead.

It’s difficult for those suffering from addiction to detox and begin the process of recovery.

Creating boundaries, explaining the problem, and helping them get to this path is essential for them to start healing from the damage that the addiction has caused.

That’s where Pathways Recovery Centers comes in.

We offer comprehensive addiction treatments for those suffering from different kinds of substance and behavioral abuse problems.

From inpatient programs to outpatient treatment and private sobriety coaching, we have several options available to choose from.

If your loved one needs help, contact us here, and our experts can advise you on the different recovery programs we offer.

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