How To Help a Woman With Addiction Get Into Drug Rehab
It’s so hard to watch a woman you love take her life into a downward spiral. You know you don’t control her choices about doing drugs, but how can she not see? How can she not know that she needs to go to drug rehab and get off those damn drugs?? Well, she may or may not know it deep down – denial runs thick with drug and alcohol addiction. What she does need is help taking the first step.
Keep Connections Alive
As you know, you can’t really control another person’s choices. You can give them options that might make other things more difficult, but you can’t actually choose and follow through for them. What you need is to have an open line of communication – and you may have to bite your tongue sometimes. Yes, this may be difficult, but if you know what you say won’t actually change what they are doing, there is no point in damaging the relationship.
That doesn’t mean you can’t say truthful things at the appropriate time. Be truthful, as calm as possible (high emotions interfere with communication), and keep your words to the point. Remind them they have the choice, but they need to know how their choices are affecting others.
Women Will Ask Someone They Trust For Help With Drug Addiction
At some point, a woman who really does want help will turn to the one or two people she believes she can count on. If you keep in mind that you are dealing with a person who is impaired to make good choices, you may be able to have more patience. Addiction fully infects a person with lies and two-faced behaviors. It is a sickness, except many of the symptoms are behavioral as well as physical.
Let her know that her inability to be truthful or keep her commitments makes it difficult to be close, and you hope she sees that someday. While in the throes of her addiction, she may have little interest in hearing the truth that you speak. This goes against the lies she hears in her mind about how she doesn’t really have a problem, it’s everyone else’s fault, everyone is making too big of a deal about it, etc.
Your Open Line of Communication Is Her Ray of Hope
If you have an open line of communication when she really hits rock bottom, she is most likely to be ready to seriously listen to what you have to say. That’s your moment – that is what you are really working for. You are investing patience, truth, calm straightforward talk, and openness for that one moment when she finds herself to be very broken and no longer able to live the lie of drug addiction.
That’s when you guide her into a conversation about what she wants from her life, how she thinks she might get there, and some good professional help to make that happen. Again, this isn’t about lecturing or shoving one choice down her throat. She may still make the choice not to go to drug rehab, but you can also remove yourself from her life until she does that.
Remember – the woman you care about is impaired and dealing with a condition that is warping her mind and body. When she chooses to come to you for help, tell her about drug rehab for women. She’ll get the understanding of an all-female staff and a comprehensive program that will give her the best fighting chance against her addiction.