How to Tell If An Addict Is Serious About Recovery

Is Your Loved One Committed to Overcoming Their Addiction?

Addiction: The Basics

Someone who is struggling with addiction typically has a dependence on drugs, alcohol, or certain behaviors. The most common addictive substances are nicotine, alcohol, and illicit drugs such as cocaine or heroin. Addictive behaviors, on the other hand, include compulsive patterns involving sexual activity or gambling.

Addiction is a serious illness that not only impacts the life of the individual experiencing it, but their loved ones as well. This disease begins to dominate every aspect in a person’s life until their priorities revolve around using a substance or displaying a pattern. Because of this, there is still a negative stigma around addiction. To remove this stigma and encourage recovery in the long run, it is up to the friends and family members of addicts to be advocates for recovery and encourage a sober lifestyle.

Is Your Loved One An Addict?

Addiction is known for putting a strain on relationships. When people begin to prioritize a substance or behavior over the people around them, their loved ones will begin to get sick of their destructive behavior. Their personality, appearance, and health will begin to change and become consumed by their addiction. Addiction may also increase the risk for miscommunication between family members and friends.

Even though it can be difficult, it’s important for the loved ones of addicts to try to understand what they’re going through. This requires conducting thorough research about a loved one’s individual addiction. If you understand someone’s addiction, you are more likely to be able to successfully help them seek recovery.

The Beginning of Recovery

Recovery is a life-long process that requires commitment and determination. It is important to note that sobriety and recovery are two very different things. Just because someone is currently sober, it does not mean that they have fully recovered from their addiction. It’s one thing to remove a substance from your life, but it is much more difficult to make changes to their lifestyle and their patterns or behaviors.

Emotions will run high and cravings will happen, but it’s important to keep moving forward to avoid going backward. In the beginning of the recovery process, relapses are likely to occur. However, relapses do not signal the end of the road. If someone is passionate about recovery, they will try their best to continue with sobriety after their relapse.

The recovery process usually begins with rehab. While rehabilitation delivers tools and strategies that can help individuals overcome their addiction, rehab is not the end-all-be-all. It will not magically cure an addiction; instead, it will help patients understand the root of their addiction and develop more positive coping mechanisms.

How to Tell If They’re Serious About Sobriety

You can tell that someone is serious about sobriety when they are beginning to make big changes to their life. These changes may include small lifestyle tweaks like attending a long-term rehab program or building a savings account. When someone is beginning to recover successfully, their goals and behavior will begin to change. They will start making more of an effort to get help for themselves, which may include attending group meetings or staying away from environments that promote drug or alcohol use.

Helping Your Loved One Through Recovery

While it is important to support your loved one as they go through the recovery process, it’s important to take care of yourself and your own mental health as well. If you’re not looking after yourself properly, you won’t be able to help someone with your full capacity.

If you have a loved one with an addiction issue and want to know if they’re serious about their recovery, our team of substance abuse recovery specialists are here to help. Give us a call at 267.209.7312.