How to Explain a Drug Addiction to a Loved One

Explaining a drug addiction to anyone can be difficult, but explaining to loved ones is even tougher.

It could be you are explaining your drug addiction or that of another member of the family. Perhaps you are explaining drug addictions to your children. Whatever the reason, tact and sensitivity must be used.

The word “disease” used to be spread around fairly regularly to describe alcoholism and drug addiction, but one must be careful not to shift the blame to some unforeseeable force. Drug addicts choose to take that first hit of the drug and they choose to continue until the drug makes that choice for them. Still, explaining that the drug addict needs understanding is not coddling.

Explaining that the drug addict made a mistake and it got out of control may be one way of putting it to children and also those who do not fully understand addictions. It can be explained that the drug addict was trying to get away from a painful experience or even life and wrongly chose drugs to make them feel better. Once they started taking the drugs, their body started needing more and more. Then their mind started to convince them that there was nothing wrong. Explain that it is all part of the drug addiction.

It is important to explain that any misdeeds done by the addict ARE his or her responsibility but that they were driven by the need for drugs. Drugs affect a persons mind and their body. Children, in particular, may be afraid of the drug addict if they have witnessed any of their drug induced fits or tyrants. This will be difficult to dismiss. Explain that drugs do that to a person, even though the person loves them very much. You can explain that drugs make people act in a way they normally would not.

You can also gain the help of a drug counselor to help further with explaining drug addictions. While the addict must accept responsibility for what he or she did while on drugs, explaining to those less experienced in the drug field can be difficult. In fact, the drug addict themselves may not know why they acted how they did until they have gone through rehabilitation.

* Explaining drug addiction to loved ones may just stop a future addiction in its tracks. *