As ‘Four Good Days’ hits movie theaters, it helps all of us realize how addiction is a disease that affects the whole family. Mila Kunis plays Molly who is a struggling heroin addict. Her mother, Deb played by Glenn Close, is at her wits end on how to help her daughter and faced with a decision on how to truly help her.
This is an all too common struggle that families and friends go through. It’s important to understand that providing meaningful help to their loved ones requires family and friends to have a good grasp of the addiction disease. Also, those helping must be able to continue to practice self-care while supporting their loved one. Many family and friends get burned out using tactics that only enable their loved ones’ addiction.
Here are three tips on how to help:
- Understand addiction.
Many fall into the belief that addiction comes from weakness or unwillingness to change. Addiction actually comes from the brain. “Scientific advances in the field of addiction have forever debunked the notion that addiction reflects a character flaw under voluntary control, demonstrating instead that it is a bona fide disease of the brain,” as explained by Ruben D. Baler, Ph.D. and Nora D. Volkow, M.D. in Addiction as a Systems Failure. Understanding that it isn’t the person’s choice helps many let go of resentment and help in a more healthy way. - Help without enabling.
Enabling is very common among family and friends trying to help their loved ones. Learning how to help an addict without enabling is one of the most powerful tools to help loved ones in their recovery journey. It’s difficult to watch someone you love struggle, but the wrong kind of help will set them back in their journey. - Get professionals to help.
Recovery retreats are meant for those whom traditional treatment methods failed. Without the use of medication-assisted treatment, recovery retreats heavily rely on faith, wellness, and willingness from each individual to begin a rigorous course of action that will help build for a sober life. Using a holistic approach, individuals can learn to treat their disease as a whole — treating the mind, body, and spirit as one unit. Holistic treatments found in recovery retreats range from music and art therapy, nutrition therapy, meditation, yoga, spiritual counseling, acupuncture, and more. These alternative forms of treatment work to treat the disease of addiction three-fold by:- Healing the mind, body, and spirit
- Promoting healthy habits and lifestyle changes needed to sustain sobriety
- Offering diverse, individualized treatment methods to best meet each person’s specific needs
Through the Archway with Peter Marinelli is where guests come to reclaim their lives and recover from alcoholism and drug addiction with the highest standards of care. For more information, call us at 844-442-2700 or visit website.
