Drug addiction does not discriminate and thus can affect nearly anyone, regardless of who they are. But at the same time we are all unique individuals and our story of addiction may be quite unique as well.

For example, take a 14 year old kid who is addicted to Marijuana and is now starting to drink alcohol. Is this the same addiction as a 70 year old woman who recently got put on heavy doses of painkillers and can not seem to get off of them? Of course not. They are the same but different.

They are the same because addiction is similar at the chemical level, where we can all become physically addicted to a substance. But they are different in many ways, because addiction is about so much more than just the drugs. For many people it’s about the lifestyle that comes along with the drugs. For other people, it might be about a mental disorder that caused them to seek out self-medicating in the first place.

Drug addiction is complicated. It’s not necessarily just about what caused the addiction or what led a person to use drugs in the first place. In some cases addiction creates new problems that stem from the lifestyle itself.

If it were just about overcoming a chemical dependence then treating addiction would probably be a lot easier. But it’s about so much more than that.

So let’s take a look at some common situations and see how they can best be treated.

Prescription drug addiction

This has been a growing trend in recent years and prescription painkillers have actually taken over as the new gateway drug of choice among young people, even ahead of Marijuana and alcohol. Kids are finding bottles of opiates such as Vicodin or Percocet in their parent’s medicine cabinets and this gets the cycle started.

On the other hand, you have a lot of adults who suffer various injuries and even the elderly who are being prescribed heavy opiates and sometimes addictive anxiety medications and they can also get started on a path of addiction.

One of the big issues with prescription drugs is to answer the question: when does it cross the line from drug abuse to drug addiction?

Defining that line can be especially tricky with prescriptions because many people feel like it is justified because their doctor wrote them a valid and legal prescription for the drugs. In some cases this can actually be false. The reason for this is because we as addicts have the ability to manipulate a doctor into giving us what we really want, and not necessarily what we need. Imaginary symptoms, exaggerated pain, and so on.

So just because we have a valid prescription from our doctor does not justify our use in some cases. We have to get honest with ourselves in a case like this if we are to get better.

What you can do to help: This can be tricky because some of the people who get addicted to prescriptions are not anything like most other people who are drug addicts and alcoholics. Instead, they are relatively “innocent” and just happened to get hooked with a chemical dependency. So in cases like this we might have a tendency to treat the person differently and not throw them in with the other “hard core addicts.”

I think this is a mistake, and would rather see someone encourage detox in a traditional drug rehab setting. Part of the education they will get there is from seeing where continued drug addiction could eventually lead them. They will share stories in a drug rehab and others will share with them how they also started out “innocently” with legal prescriptions.

Given that, I would not hold back when encouraging treatment for such individuals. Push them to get the help they really need (which will probably involve a medical detox to start with).

If your spouse is an alcoholic

A classic situation that can be very tough to deal with. If this is the case then usually there is an issue of codependency involved as well. The alcoholic is typically being enabled by the spouse in some way.

The defining question in an alcoholic marriage is always this: “Should I stay or should I go?” It can be devastating for alcohol to break up a marriage but sometimes it can be just as devastating to keep holding things together if the alcoholic has no intention of changing. What is particularly devastating is if the spouse decides to stick it out but clings to a false hope for change, while simultaneously enabling the alcoholic so as to prevent them from the possibility of making real changes.

Remember that an alcoholic will not change their life if everything is coming up roses. Why would they? The alcoholic will only consider a life altering change like quitting drinking if the chips are down and they are facing heavy losses (such as losing their job, their marriage, and so on). So the enabling spouse can play a big role in this if they are constantly protecting the alcoholic from suffering big damages or big losses. By doing so they are actually prolonging the drinking and encouraging the alcoholic not to change.

What you can do to help:

Given what was said above clearly you want to stop enabling the alcoholic and force them to face the natural consequences of their drinking. This does not mean that you must deliberately get them into trouble or try to trip them up in any way. They will do that on their own. Your only role is to step back and let them fall on their face a few times. Do not rescue them. For example, do not call in sick to work for them if they have a hangover and can’t get up on time. Actions like this will make them continue to drink. Why would they consider quitting if everything is going good for them? You must not rescue them and allow them to experience the negative consequences of their own actions.

If your spouse happens to be a practicing alcoholic, then the single best course of action for you is to get to an Al-Anon support group. The people there are experts at this stuff and can give you specific advice and real guidance as to how you should behave around your spouse.

If your children are experimenting with drugs

Luckily, in the majority of cases, if a kid or young adult is experimenting with drugs then this is not necessarily the start of a lifetime of addiction. Most will experiment and simply move on. But in other cases they will get hooked and thus start on the endless cycle. The key is in diagnosing the severity of the problem when it is happening. In a lot of cases this will not be possible. For example, say your kid gets caught smoking Marijuana with his friends. Really, how are you to predict what his level of potential addiction is from such an incident? Kids will be kids and many non-addicts are going to experiment in this way.

Does this make it OK if your kid gets caught doing drugs? Of course not. But understand that such an incident does not diagnose them. Watch instead for a recurring pattern…that will be much more indicative of real addiction.

What you can do to help:

There are growing support systems these days that did not exist in the past for younger people in recovery. Some will say that it is too early for a teenager to hit bottom and surrender to their disease but they are finding that this is not true – many young people are finding success in recovery. This was not true in the past so this is a change that represents real hope.

It is not as easy to find inpatient treatment for kids but it can still be done. Part of the problem with residential inpatient programs for young people is that they have done studies that show that they are usually detrimental instead of helpful because the kids get together and find new people to use drugs with. Now you might think that this happens occasionally but they have proven that it is common enough to make residential treatment completely ineffective for most kids.

The answer instead seems to point towards family counseling and individual therapy.

A friend or family member is spiraling out of control

This is never easy to watch and the natural reaction is to simply encourage the person to get help for their drug addiction.

Of course it gets more complicated than this as the addict will usually become defensive and any attempts to encourage them to get help will actually be perceived as being threatening in some cases.

On the other hand if your friend or family member is definitely progressing in their disease and getting worse then it does little good for you to ignore the problem or just sit on the sidelines while they slowly self destruct. But it is a difficult situation because any attempt to encourage help on your part seems to only aggravate them further and in some cases puts distance between the two of you. So it can really feel like your hands are tied.

What you can do to help:

As pointed out above in some cases you will have to choose between pushing them to get help and keeping the waters calm. But if they are truly out of control and you genuinely care about them then it might be worth stirring up the pot in some cases even if they resent you for it initially.

One form of doing this is the formal intervention. This is where you gather all of the person’s friends and family and you confront the person together to try to convince them to go to treatment.

You are facing the possibility that you are addicted to drugs

If you are wondering about your own self control when it comes to drug addiction, then you should take things a step further and discover the truth for yourself. Try to limit your drug intake for a long period of time (say like 90 days continuous) or even give complete abstinence a whirl. If you fail miserably at both of these endeavors, then it might be time to take a serious look at your life.

Pay attention to what others are telling you as well. If everyone else in your life thinks you might have a problem, then guess what: you probably have a problem. Not being able to see this is called denial. But if you’re here reading this now, then chances are good that you are at least somewhat aware that there might be a problem and you’ve taken the first step at breaking through this denial.

If this is the situation you’re in, then there is hope for a better life. You can be happy without drugs and alcohol, as impossible as that might sound. It will take a bit of time and effort to get there but the alternative is to go on living in perpetual misery – hopelessly trying to self medicate your fear away just to stay halfway comfortable. This is no way to live and you deserve better.

What you can do to help yourself:

Well the number one suggestion for a struggling addict or alcoholic is to ask for help.

In the beginning, we do not know how to live a clean and sober life. If we did, we would not be having a problem. So you need to ask for help from others who have made it through this transition.

For many people this will involve attending 12 step meetings. For others this might involve finding a qualified therapist or counselor that specializes in helping addicts. Others might even get help from a doctor.

In early recovery you need support. This is most easily found at 12 step meetings as well but there are other avenues if meetings are not your thing.

If you are struggling to get through the initial detox then you might want to seek professional help and go to a drug rehab center. You can also find support there from your peers and you might even learn a thing or two about how to live a clean and sober life.

If you or someone you love is abusing drugs, an inpatient drug abuse treatment center can build the foundation for long-term recovery. Any drug abuse treatment you are considering should be licensed and offer on site detox, therapy, and aftercare.

Finally you will want to transition to the creative life in recovery as simply eliminating the drugs is only the beginning. Once you are clean and sober and have your bearings again then you will want to start creating new and exciting things in your life and start living with passion and purpose. Anything less than this and you will risk returning to the comfort and familiarity of drugs and alcohol. That is why this website is dedicated to exploring this creative life in recovery – achieving a creative vision for yourself is the best way to get drug addiction help.