Thousands of family members across the country struggle with substance abuse to deal with their everyday stress and life issues. A lot of times they become addicted to the numbing effect drugs provide over time. To make matters worse, besides seeking a doctor for a prescription, the accessibility of drugs at popular stores like Walgreens or CVS allows far more leeway for a person to seek out a certain “high” with a lower price ticket. To watch my own siblings or parents taking drugs like Tylenol or Xanax on the regular is difficult enough to think about, let alone go through myself. In the past few years, the media has frequently depicted situations similar to this with TV shows and movies. The recent show “Shameless” had a spot on depiction by narrating a story about an addicted father and the mental struggles his children experienced to cope with it.
With that being said, it’s crucial for a child who detects an addiction within their household to call for professional help. It may seem like a scary and big step to take, since their family may want to keep matters within closer doors. However, doing whatever it takes to save their health is worth it if it comes to eventually saving their life. Making sure to educate yourself about the warning signs of addiction and the treatment options can come in handy in the future.
A Dependency’s Impact
Having conflicting thoughts about dealing with a family member who has is partaking prescription drug abuse is definitely inevitable. The addict can show telltale signs of their dependency by taking much larger doses than usual, injesting prescription medication not exactly prescribed to their needs, building up a tolerance to the size of the dosage each time, and searching through medical stashes within their or other people’s home. The addict may also start looking injesting different in their physical appearance, express a change in their body language or personality towards others, sleep much less or more, behave much more secretive with their activities and exchanges with others, and avoid questions about where they spend time every day.
While watching these events occur, a child might consider the fact that the Xanax or dramatically drugs assist the person with riding the wave of their emotions throughout the day. Yet, scientists have recorded consistently that it actually decreases a body’s ability to process anxiety, depression, anger, and even sleep or digest properly. A child might also feel that they lack the power to speak about the problem, as many addicts can deny the reality of the situation or lash out in anger for being called out on their irresponsible drug abuse. At the position of having to look up to their parents, they will likely end up in the situation of taking the back seat and enabling their parent or sibling’s behavior. Likewise, anyone child who is codependent on the addict will feel the same amount of stress about their abuse, upset that their attempts aren’t being effective or acknowledged, and may feel unappreciated from changing their routine to complement that of the addict.
Seeking Outside Help
In most cases, no matter what their age is, anyone who is a family member of someone struggling with a prescription drug addiction problem plays a huge role on whether or not their will successfully overcome their problem as they share the same ideals, exchanges, and environment. It is important to steer away from any habits of enabling or avoiding their addiction, and call for proper education about having a successful intervention by visiting a professional. There are several hotlines and services in every community that exist to serve families of addicts if the parents are the problem.
Through a simple call, a child can ask for assistance and notify legal services that their household is put at risk. Although having outside forces seems intrusive or over the top, it’s important to remember that their health and safety is being put at risk. With enough help, both the addict and the family can brainstorm methods to combat the issue with an action plan and changes to be made within the household. Seeking a professional is important since they understand that communicating with anyone who has a prescription drug problem can be difficult without proper guidance and moral support. The majority of families push towards trying to fix or follow along with the addict, but counselors push for complete unification to hold each other accountable.
The Bottom Line
As a family member, It’s much easier to turn a cheek towards your mom, dad, sister, or brother turn to drugs and other addictive substances to counteract the pressures from their life. However, make the choice to not be part of the statistic of families broken by addiction and stand up for their health. Don’t be afraid to call for help and be proactive when it comes to saving their lifestyles. Drug addiction is a nationwide problem. If you think you are abusing substances and it is negatively impacting your day to day life, please seek help. Alternatively, if you are a drug rehab ownerand are seeking advice on how to make sure those who need help can readily access your website, consult Addiction-Rep. Help is out there; you just need to know where to find it.
