What Should I Do if My Loved One Does Not Want Treatment for Their Addiction?
When struggling with addiction, your loved one may become blinded to the negative effects that it is causing in their life. They may not realize that their addiction is consuming their life and overall well-being. As a family member, you may feel at a loss watching your loved one go through this scenario. You may feel even more discouraged when any attempts to encourage them to seek professional help are denied time and time again.
While this scenario can be extremely distressing, try not to lose hope. There are some ways you can further help your loved one seek treatment.
Do Your Research
Before even trying to speak with your loved one about their addiction, it is important to educate yourself about what your loved one is experiencing. If your loved one is refusing treatment, try to find out why that is by checking credible online sources or reaching out to treatment professionals. Once you can better understand what your loved one is experiencing and why they are refusing treatment, you can better communicate with them. If they know and trust that you understand where they are coming from, they may open up to you more and slowly begin thinking about entering treatment.
Do Not Enable Them
Rather than helping your loved one get better, enabling their behaviors only causes their addiction to potentially worsen with time. Enabling your loved one can involve the following:
Being in denial about their level of addiction
Financially funding them
Covering up for them when they make mistakes or cause mishaps when it comes to daily responsibilities
Not having boundaries with them
Making excuses to others about their concerning behaviors
Taking care of their basic needs
Taking care of your loved one in various ways while they are actively addicted makes it seem as though there are no consequences for their behaviors since you and your family will provide for them no matter what. This will enable them to continue using, despite the harm it is causing them and others. To show your loved one how harmful their addiction really is, you must try to stop enabling them. While this may feel wrong, it will actually be better for them in the long run. This will force them to realize the magnitude of their situation and slowly take steps to begin changing their life.
Encourage Them to Get a Physical Check-Up
Seeing a physician can help your loved one seek treatment. By seeing a medical professional who is outside the realm of addiction treatment specifically, your loved one could begin to understand that their addiction really is negatively impacting their life and that treatment is necessary. They might come to this realization because medical professionals objectively know how addiction affects the body.
Physical manifestations of addiction can be apparent in various ways during a check-up. They can be found in blood or urine samples or simply by looking at the person’s body. Realizing that their addiction has taken on physical manifestations that a physician can identify can help your loved one understand how serious their situation actually is.
Remain Open and Nonjudgemental
It can be more difficult for individuals to seek treatment if they are compelled to do so. This can make them feel isolated or judged as if no one really empathizes with them. Treatment should not be portrayed as a punishment; instead, treatment is an exciting journey of self-discovery towards healing and connection.
In order to demonstrate this to your loved one, continue to communicate with them openly, and most importantly, listen to them nonjudgmentally as best as you can. Doing so will show them that they have nothing to be ashamed of and that nothing is wrong with them. Try to empathize with their struggles so that they can begin to be more honest with themselves and others about the severity of their addiction.
Reach Out to Professional Interventionists
No matter what happens, know that there are people who can help you and your family. Planning an intervention with professionals who are committed to understanding the needs of you and your loved one can be a very transformative and eye-opening experience.
During an intervention, you and your family members will have the opportunity to convey your feelings and concerns to your loved one in a respectful and thoughtful way. The interventionist will help explain your concerns and provide access to a treatment facility that best meets your loved one’s needs. They will help ensure that the experience is overall very calm and stable. Although your loved one may still refuse treatment, you will know that you did all you could to help them.
When a loved one struggling with addiction refuses to seek help, it can be easy to feel defeated. However, you can take steps that may encourage your loved one to seek help. These include doing your research about addiction, not enabling your loved one, encouraging them to get a physical check-up, remaining open and nonjudgmental, and reaching out to a professional interventionist. Even if you do all of these things, your loved one may still choose not to seek help. No matter what the situation, reaching out to professionals at Next Level Recovery Associates can be extremely beneficial. We have professional interventionists who can help facilitate communication between you and your loved one, as well as encourage them to seek help. We can also help you find inner peace regardless of the outcome. Contact us today at consult@nextlevelra.com to learn more.