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The Effects of Addiction on Relationships

The number of Americans addicted to either drugs or alcohol has reached roughly 130 million, according to a WorldNetDaily article. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in an average year 30 million Americans will drive while intoxicated and 10 million will drive while under the influence of illicit drugs. Even with the rising number of individuals who are addicted to alcohol or drugs, many do not understand what addiction really is. If an individual has a relationship with an addict, there are five ways that this is may be affecting their life:

  1. Control Individuals who are living with addiction feel overwhelmed, which can lead to a need to be controlling. This can look like a parent who is managing their children’s relationships or a boss who is micromanaging everything.
  2. Easily Anxious People tend to worry more about everything when they have an addiction. They become very focused on making sure everyone is happy, thus making work and daily life harder than it should be.
  3. Trying to Help People in a relationship with individuals with addiction often try to make triggers go away. If the individual says that a messy home drives them to drink, the people around them may take to cleaning all the time in order to stop them from drinking. While the blaming can feel personal, it’s typically just an excuse and is not at the root of the problem.
  4. Other’s Behaviors Individuals will begin focusing on the addict’s behaviors. Fixating on whether they will drink or use drugs tonight, perhaps wondering if someone will be there to help if there’s an overdose. More often than not this leads to self-neglect and a cycle that repeats itself.
  5. Denial It’s extremely normal for both the addict and loved ones to deny there is a problem. Denial can perpetuate the disease for the individual living with addiction, as well as the family.

Alcoholism and drug addiction can have a significant impact on all individuals. This is a disease that can be helped through therapy and addiction treatment, assisting those affected to live a more normal life.

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