Living With Addiction

Living With Addictions

The fallout of addiction, drug and alcohol misuse is often most painfully felt within the family. Living in a home with an active addict can be a confusing, emotionally volatile place.

You may sense as a family member that things don’t add up – what is being said doesn’t match what you see happening right in front of you. You may be getting into work tired and unable to keep up appearances any more. You might be experiencing physical symptoms and going to the doctor more often.

Arguments, violence, accusations, walking on eggshells may have become a normal part of your everyday experience. Your financial situation might be suffering. You might be unknowingly colluding with the addict, pretending everything is OK, hoping that the problem will just go away. You might be losing your integrity, doing whatever it takes to keep the peace.

The addicted person in your family may be asking you to cover up for them, keep secrets or may be turning into someone you don’t recognise. You might be turning into someone you don’t recognise – avoiding social situations to avoid embarrassment or shame, becoming more insular and isolated.

Are you feeling that your sense of control over your life, family and reality is slipping away? Is life slowly spinning out of control? You might be trying to control everything you can and feeling overwhelmed. You may have pleaded, cajoled, begged the active addict to seek help. You may have threatened unspeakable things in an attempt to get them to get help. You may have forced them out of the home. You might be afraid of the consequences of the next time they do come home, or be living in fear of the police knocking on your door.

If you recognise yourself here, please be assured that you can regain control of your own life. You cannot control what the addicted person does, or doesn’t do, but you can get help for yourself and the rest of your family and start to take the necessary steps to re-establish a sense of safety and hope. Please call us today, for confidential help and support.

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