How do you help a drug addict? they dont want help. how can you change their mind?
Question:
Answers:
you can't change their mind, but effective treatment approach utilizes motivational interviewing
You cannot help someone who doesn't want help and you cannot change their mind. Your best option is to just tell them often that you love them and you are there to help them if they ever decide they are ready to get help.
They have to want to really get off of it them self. Nothing you can do but love the person. I don't know where you live but where I live there is Teen Challenge a Christian Organization that helps people on drugs. But the person on drugs has to stay there and be determined to get off. I have a nephew that went there now he is in the ministry.
You can't. They have to want the help. Even when they are forced into rehab, if they didn't want to quit, they will simply go right back to the drugs after they get out. Some people move from one addiction to another. For instance some drunks will move from alcohol to AA meetings and get "addicted" to them. Once a physical addiction is broken (takes a few days) the rest is a mental addiction and that is the part that is the hardest to deal with. The addict feels that they need the fix of whatever it is, regardless of being free from the physical addiction. They have to stop associating feeling OK with the feeling of being drunk or high and start associating feeling OK with actually being OK.
This can be hard to deal with but you need to remember
They have to be the ones who want help
and you can't change or force someone who doesn't want help. Just be there when they are ready to get help.
Be there for them, by doing this they may realize they are not just harming themselves but the family and friends.
Be clear about your boundaries. Stick to them, and do not excuse or enable inappropriate behavior. For instance, I love you and you are welcome to visit in my home as long as you are not using.
This states clearly that you care, but will not support their unhealthy habits.
The tough part is to stick with it. It is not helping them to enable them, so you have to remember that setting limits is for you and for them.
Often someone who has no boundaries or poor boundaries, will get angry when limits are set for them. That may be necessary for them to experience natural and logical consequences of their behavior.
Just don't bail him or her out. If and when they see that the lifestyle is not worth the sacrifice, and they want out, you can direct them to an effective program in your area. You can participate in therapy, if you like.
A tough place to be in. Same with someone with undiagnosed mental illness, physical illness, they really have to be motivated to get well, clean, etc.
Sometimes, there is more to gain , from the person's perspective, in staying in the lifestyle, and is is very hard to leave it.
Take good care of yourself, and treat any guilt or powerlessness you feel with a technique like EFT or BSFF
Hope this helps
Karen
Let them know you love them. They have to WANT to stop doing drugs. Until they make that choice they won't stop. Sadly it takes something bad to happen to bring them to that point.
More Questions & Answers...