How to Tell Your Family You Struggle with Substance Abuse
The day you admit you need help with your substance can feel like the first day of the rest of your life, but it’s when you admit to the people you love that you need their support is one of the most difficult steps. What are the best ways to tell the people you love that you are struggling with substance abuse and you want to seek help?
Be Honest
Addiction is all-consuming, and it can encourage people to be desperate, lie, and deceive. If you feel that you’ve got to get help and you want to tell your loved ones how you’ve been feeling, you need to help them understand what you have been going through. Honesty is the best policy because if you have been operating with a cloak and dagger approach and have lied or deceived loved ones, no matter how regretful you are, you find yourself up against people who are not so empathetic, even those that you feel should support you the most. But you have to remember you’ve got to start by being open and honest. This can help them understand how you are feeling and that you really want to make a change.
Express That You Want To Seek Help
When we realize that we want to seek professional help, we’ve got to be prepared to express our desires for what sort of help can truly support us. What you can do with this stage is to prepare some resources and information about what you are experiencing. Your loved ones may also want to know how you came to this decision and why you want to get help now. This is why an open and honest approach is crucial because it can help them understand what brought you to this point and also what you want your life to look like after treatment.
Prepare for Positive and Negative Reactions
It is possible that you may have caused a lot of hurt when in the throes of substance abuse. Honesty is so important because if there are family members who may not believe you when you say that you want to get support, this could mean a war of words. However, it’s important to prepare for this so you can stay calm and can communicate what you really want. Tempers can fly high, and if the people you love have been angry with you in the past, you need to acknowledge how they feel.
Ask Them for Support
If you are looking for advice from the people you care about, you need to inform them that it is important to you that you get this support. If you’ve decided to seek treatment, you may have to show how their support can help you when you are there and what they can do to help you when you come out. When we look for support, that feeling there is someone else in our corner can give us that mental strength. However, you may naturally feel reluctant to ask the people who care about you to support you if you’ve hurt them in some way.
Do Not Be Ashamed
This is a very big moment when you are telling the people you care about that you are experiencing an addiction. To get to this point, we have to be proud of ourselves that we have come to the conclusion that we need to break this cycle head-on and make changes to benefit our lives. Addiction is very difficult, and if you are committed to breaking this once and for all, those that really care about you will be on your side. But you must remember that you have to do it for yourself.
Reach Out to Peaks Recovery
Telling your family and loved ones that you struggle with substance abuse can be met with mixed reactions. But this is where additional support can be invaluable. This is the most courageous step you will ever take, which is why there are plenty of resources out there to help you during this challenging time. Admitting that you have struggled with substance abuse is the first step, but the next step is to tackle this problem head-on. If you are ready to defeat this once and for all, you can reach out to Peaks Recovery and we will be there every step of the way.
