Understanding the Drug and Alcohol Addict

Drug and alcohol addiction is an illness and needs to be taken as seriously as the flu. This article will show you how to understand just what kind of person an addict is and a bit of what it takes for them to stop using drugs or alcohol.

Many look at the addict as some junkie who just wants to get high all the time. The fact is that it is much deeper than that. Most addicts started out taking drugs or gettting drunk as a recreation activity but it ended up developing into something much more serious. Drug addicts come in all forms, shapes and sizes. They can be male, female, homeless or wealthy or anything in between.

The Family And Friends Of The Addict.

Drug addiciton and alcoholism are especially hard on the family. An addict is not a pleasent person to live with at all. Many people think that their addict should give up drugs and alcohol for their wife, children, parents or friends. But they need to give it up for THEMSELVES.

One mistake that friends and family of an addict commonly make is "being there for them". It's very difficult to watch somone you love (family, lover, or friend) go through something like that. You want to help them. If they can't make rent, you may lend them money. If they can't afford groceries or keep their lights on, you may pay their bills. The problem is that by doing that, the family member or friend is ENABLEING the addict. The addict KNOWS that if they spend all their money on drugs that their friend or family will feed them or if they get evicted from their apartment, that the family or friend will let them sleep on their couch and keep them from sleeping on the street. What that does is provide a safety net for the addict and they are less likely to stop at times like that.

What Does An Addict Have To Do To Stop Useing?

The answer is simple. Hit rock bottom. An addict won't stop because they WANT to. They ALL want to. They'll stop when they've hit rock bottom. When there is NO ONE there to help them. When they go hungry and are living on the street is when they're more likely to get help. But the bottom line is that they can't stop useing for their family, or friends. They have to stop for THEMSELVES.

Once An Addict, Always An Addict.

You always here the saying of "recoving alcoholic" or "recovering addict". A drug addict or alcoholic who hasn't drank or used drugs in 20 years is STILL an addict or alcoholic. They are a "recovering" addict or alcoholic and they will NEVER be a "cured" addict or alcoholic. Fact is, there is something in the body of the addict that will keep them from stopping at one or only useing drugs once. An addict will ALWAYS be in recovery.

The addict is as much human as a non-addict but to understand the addict enables us to better help them defeat the demons inside them and to once again return to the world of the living.