7 Tips for Helping Someone you're Dating with an Addiction
Here are 7 Tips for Helping Someone you're Dating with an Addiction. The challenge with addiction is that the addict is not the only one impacted by this disease. Family and friends can have difficulty with the addict’s behavior, financial problems, legal problems and the daily struggle of supporting trying to find healthy balance. Sometimes dating an addict can be difficult. Here are seven tips that family and friends can reference to support an addicted family member or friend.
Tip #1: Educate Yourself
Get information about addictions. Understand the addict’s disease process. Find information about how it impacts the family and friends. Knowledge is power and it may help you understand more about yourself and your loved one. There are many resources for finding this information: SAMHSA.gov (Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration) has all types of educational and informational resources. The public library and the internet have an enormous amount of information for education, groups, support, treatment, etc.
Tip #2: Get Support
When you have a loved one with an addiction problem, it can create a great deal of difficulty in your life. There are groups that can help you learn how to cope, provide resources and help the addict, including:
- Al-Anon (focused on Alcohol addiction)
- Nar-Anon (focused on drug addiction – prescription and illegal)
Tip #3: Get Counseling
It may be helpful to get some individual counseling to assist yourself. Counseling isn’t just for the alcoholic or addict. The more you are able to manage the better you will be able to help your loved one. There are a variety of resources to find counselors. Your company may have an Employee Assistance Program, or your health insurance may have mental health benefits that you can access. Talk to someone you trust about finding the resources you need and do a search for resources in your area.
Tip #4: Seek Specialty Help
If you need assistance with financial issues or legal issues it may be helpful to talk to attorney providers that are covered. There are organizations that provide services on a sliding scale fee, and you can often find those by calling your local Mental Health Agency or United Way. Local churches may also provide some low or no cost counseling.
Tip #5: Don’t Enable
It is difficult for family members when the disease takes hold. Often, family members have supported the person’s addiction without even fully realizing that was what they were doing. Don’t rescue the addict. Let them experience the consequences of their disease. Many times, people are unable to change until they are forced. Don’t financially support the addict or their addiction. Many family members and friends buy groceries, give financial assistance to pay court fines or attorneys, or pay rent to help someone out, but usually it only prolongs the disease as addicts are able to avoid consequences.
Tip #6: Have Realistic Expectations
Don’t preach or lecture to the addict. They are usually unable to hear what you are saying. Continue to hold them accountable to expectations and offer help to direct them to the treatment they need. Don’t expect addicts to keep promises, they are not able to do so while in the process of their disease. Don’t react with pity or anger. This only keeps you in the process with the addict.
If your loved one is ready to get help, visit our Alcohol and Drug Treatment page to find out more about getting a referral and assessment. You can also contact Legal Aid programs in your area to see if you qualify for those services or they may be able to direct you to someone who can assist you.
If you have insurance and just want to get information about pricing, give us a call 24/7 (727)-498-6498.
Tip #7: Take Care of Yourself
Focusing on your own life is the most important thing you can do to assist the addict. If you are stressed out due to their issues, in addition to your own, it creates resentment and strain. It makes it difficult to want to help someone who has created so much difficulty in your life. By taking care of yourself through exercising, getting plenty of sleep, socializing and getting support, you may be better able to help your loved one when they are ready to accept the help.
The most important thing to remember is that you aren’t alone. Many people battle with these issues every day and it is vital to get the resources and support you need.
Ways the Beach and Nature Improve the Rehab Experience
Ways the Beach and Nature Improve the Rehab Experience
Successful rehabilitation requires care and attention for both the mind and body. A beach rehabilitation center offers individuals a recovery environment that benefits their physical and mental health. Many people see beach rehab benefits like improved physical strength and endurance, reduced depression and increased happiness. Spending time at the beach — and in nature in general — can significantly enhance the recovery experience in several ways.
Physical Health Benefits of the Beach
To recover from drug or alcohol use, you must care for your whole self, including your physical and mental health. The beach is good for you for several reasons. The sand and ocean waves provide an excellent exercise environment, and the exfoliating sand is great for your skin. Spending time on the beach is also a fantastic way to get better sleep and enjoy the health benefits of an improved sleep schedule.
Access to Water Activities
The beach is full of exercise opportunities. From the warm sand to the cool waves, the beach offers a place to swim, surf, walk, run and practice beneficial exercise routines. Swimming is an excellent cardio exercise, is easy on the joints and helps strengthen muscles and improve endurance. Simply being in seawater is advantageous because the ocean's minerals are healthy for the body. You can take a refreshing swim to benefit your body and enjoy bobbing with the waves.
The ocean is also a great place to practice surfing. Whether you're an experienced surfer or a beginner picking up an exciting new hobby, surfing is an excellent physical activity. Simply paddling out on a surfboard strengthens your arms, and you use different muscle groups to control your board when you catch the perfect wave.
Beachside Exercise Opportunities
You can also get some great exercise without even entering the water. The shore's warm sand offers an excellent surface to practice exercise routines such as yoga, pilates and strength training. Make the experience yours by rolling out a yoga mat by the waves or enjoying feeling the sand beneath your feet.
Walking and running on the beach are excellent cardio exercises. Walking on sand increases resistance for improved muscle strengthening, and sand's softness makes it gentle on joints and bones. Sand is also an excellent exfoliant for the skin, and feeling it against your bare feet can make you feel grounded and more relaxed while walking.
Better Sleep
After a day of working your muscles and releasing endorphins, you can also get a great night's sleep at the beach. Watching the ocean waves rise and fall or listening to the waves crash can put your mind into a meditative state, inducing a relaxation response. Many people who experience insomnia use white noise machines with ocean sounds to help them drift off to sleep at night, but being fully immersed in the experience can help the surf's sounds be even more effective.
You can watch the sunset on the beach before going to bed or open your window to listen to crashing waves as you drift off to sleep. Spending time at the beach is an excellent way to manage insomnia.
Why Is the Beach Good for Mental Health?
Beach time can also improve your mental health, which is incredibly important during recovery. The beach provides sunshine, fun opportunities and a relaxing atmosphere where you can reduce stress.
Sunshine Reduces Depression
Sunshine Reduces DepressionThe sun provides vitamin D, which is essential to the brain for mood regulation. Increased vitamin D levels can decrease depression and its symptoms. When you spend time outside, your skin absorbs vitamin D from the sun, so sun exposure can significantly improve your mood.
The Beach Boosts Happiness
While sun exposure can increase your vitamin D levels and boost your mood, it is not the only part of the beach that affects happiness. The beach can improve your mood in several other ways. Simply being at the beach can relax you and help you feel more at peace. Whether you sit with your toes in the sand or let the waves flow over your ankles, you can relax and enjoy the present.
The beach also boosts happiness because people associate it with having fun. It is a top vacation destination for many individuals for a good reason. There are plenty of fun things to do, and visiting may invoke fond memories if you vacationed by the ocean as a child. The beach provides a setting where you can relax, swim, toss a frisbee, read a book, fly a kite, meditate, recover and simply escape life's stressors.
Why Is the Beach so Relaxing?
The beach is a peaceful environment that engages your senses with its sights, sounds and smells. You may feel instantly relaxed when you step onto the sand, see the ocean's blue horizon, hear the crashing waves and smell the salty sea air. This effect happens because the motion and sounds of waves can put your brain into a meditative state.
The beach is also relaxing because the ocean's negative ions can produce beneficial chemical reactions in the body. Negative ions are electricity-charged molecules floating in the atmosphere, and they can exist where ocean waves cause water to collide with itself. They can help reduce depression and increase cognitive performance.
Choosing Yourself
Your health and well-being are essential. Taking the first step toward healing is the first of many steps in your recovery, and doing so in a peaceful environment allows you to recover in comfort.
Substance use recovery requires more than abstinence from drugs and alcohol. It requires holistic treatment that cares for your whole self, including your mind and body. Deciding to recover at a beach rehab center is a fantastic way to choose yourself and put your well-being first.
Receive Treatment in a Beautiful, Peaceful Environment
Receive Treatment in a Beautiful, Peaceful EnvironmentIf you are looking for beach rehab in Florida, Transformations by the Gulf offers a holistic recovery approach and comfortable recovery housing only blocks from St. Pete Beach. Our unique program individualizes treatment to care for each person's specific needs based on psychological, biological, social, gender and family factors. We offer structured outpatient and inpatient/residential programs focused on treating the whole person. Beyond our dedication to compassionate, effective care, we believe recovery can be beautiful.
Transformations by the Gulf provides housing near the beach so you can embrace the physical and mental health benefits at any time of the day. Whether you want to enjoy a walk at sunrise, relax on the sand or ride some exciting waves, you can benefit from the shoreline's proximity to our housing facilities. Contact Transformations by the Gulf to learn more about our treatment options and begin your recovery journey.
Florida Drug Rehab: Family Suffers When You're Addicted To Pain Meds
When someone becomes addicted to prescription pain medication, it doesn't just affect them but their entire family.
Addiction can have devastating effects on the financial, physical, and mental health of everyone involved in the addict's life.
Approximately 25% of those prescribed pain medication by a doctor it and up to 80% of heroin addicts started by misusing pain medications.
Addiction isn't an issue that only affects a small demographic of the population. Everyone has the potential to become addicted. All it may take is an injury and seeing their doctor.
There is help through Florida drug rehab programs, support groups, and other resources available to offer hope and support for addicts and the family members of addicts.
Keep reading to learn more about the ways addiction affects the entire family.
Emotional Stress for Everyone
When a loved one becomes addicted to pain medication, it can cause emotional stress for family members that goes far beyond worry. Pain meds can completely change the personality, priorities, and motivations or a person who is addicted to them.
Erratic, defensive, and even violent behavior may become the new norm from someone with an addiction. Family begins to walk on eggshells never knowing what behavior or mood they'll face from the person.
There's also the emotional stress of seeing a loved one physically and mentally spiral into the abyss of addiction. In 2017, 72,000 Americans died as a result of overdoses.
Spouses, children, parents, siblings, and others carry this fear and stress with them when they love an addict. Loved ones may feel overwhelmed because they don't know how to help the addict.
Physical Stress on Family Members
When there is emotional stress, it can lead to physical illnesses and higher risk factors for heart attacks, stroke, depression, and many other conditions.
There is also the physical stress of carrying more of the family load. Often other family members have to pick up the slack and work longer hours, perform more household duties and ware themselves out.
Sleepless nights are a part of living in a home with an addict and that can wreak havoc on your health, too.
Financial Stress
There can be a lot of financial stress put on a family when a loved one is addicted to pain meds. Often the addiction started with a prescription to treat pain and there was already an injury or medical issue adding to the financial strain on the family.
As addiction progresses many struggling cannot maintain employment, debts begin to mount as the cost of their addiction rises and their income dwindles.
Many addicts end up stealing from friends and family. They tend to make bad financial decisions. Their addiction has taken priority over the rest of life. This can leave families in a situation where they can't make ends meet.
Once a loved one needs something like Florida drug rehab or is hospitalized for the physical effects of addiction there can be even greater financial worry placed on the family who ends up sacrificing their needs and wants to help an addicted loved one.
Florida Drug Rehab Can Help
Whether you have become addicted or you are concerned about a loved one's addiction, Florida drug rehab can help you find resources, support, and gain control of your life again.
Connect with us today for a brighter future tomorrow.