Spouses of Addicts: Why You Also Need a Recovery Plan
Spouses of Addicts: Why You Also Need a Recovery Plan
What many people don’t realize is that drug addiction is a significant and impacting crisis. it affects more people than one might think. Substance abuse and general drug and alcohol addiction go on with no clear sign of letting up in this country. The negative impact of this is that more and more individuals ultimately become addicts. Addiction affects spouses of addicts, and other family members suffer because of it. Realistically, for every addict in this country, there are about five or six people who their addiction adversely affects.
Spouses of Addicts Also Need a Plan for Recovery
The truth is that crisis after crisis presents itself in the form of drug and alcohol abuse. Drug and alcohol abuse are major problems. However, nothing quite shows the devastating effects of drugs and alcohol like the sheer number of Americans who these issues affect in some way. By this, it does not just mean those who are abusing the drugs or alcohol. It instead means the spouses of addicts and the other family members who it affects. They get hit hard.
Studies show that one out of every 10 Americans in this country knows someone who is struggling with an addiction. Furthermore, one out of every five Americans has at some point in their life been adversely affected by somebody who was addicted. Spouses of addicts bear many burdens when they live in a home with addiction.
Alcoholism and the Negative Impact on Family Members
The negative impact on family members is not just about drug addiction. In fact, alcoholics often have a more negative effect on their family and loved ones than drug users. For the data on it, about fifteen million Americans have an alcohol abuse problem. Whether they drink daily or whether they binge, they still definitely have an alcohol problem. For them, their alcohol use and abuse have resulted in a criminal arrest, termination from their job, or family disruption such as divorce or something similar. It is important to realize that alcohol is a drug; it has always been a drug, and it always will be a drug too. In the year of 2005, 2.5 million Americans received treatment for alcohol addiction of one kind or another.
Drug and alcohol addiction in a lot of ways negatively impacts the family members and loved ones of addicts. It is a different kind of suffering indeed, but it most definitely is a suffering. Spouses of addicts have a very present worry and concern. They live in terror that their spouse or loved one will die as a result of addiction. That is the grim truth of the matter. Because of this, such spouses and family members are all but mentally incapacitated all because of having an addict in the household.
Help for Spouses of Addicts
The way out of this crisis is to get help from a support group that offers counseling and therapy and group support for individuals who live with the addiction of a loved one. Counseling and support are immensely helpful for the spouses of addicts. They feel the effects of addiction the most, and that goes without saying. Spouses of addicts need to seek support so they can continue to function, live a happy life, and be able to help their loved one seek treatment for addiction.
