Addiction and Relationships: Overcoming Codependency

Overcoming Codependent and Enabling Behaviors in Relationships

When you want to know how to fix a codependent relationship, you need to know that it is a tall mountain to climb. The question will become, how to stop being codependent?

When you or someone know is part of a codependent relationship, it can ruin your life like addiction does to a person. Fortunately, there are ways to break codependency that can help the addict and yourself.

One of the first things not to do is to take on the user’s problems as your own. If you get wrapped up in their problems, it can have disastrous consequences for you.

It can be hard to watch someone you care about suffer in the trenches of addiction, but it is not your fault, and you do not need to fix their problems.

Can a Professional Help Me With My Codependency Issues?

The only way to help is to talk to the user about their issue and support them in getting treatment or counseling.

It is imperative to communicate how and what their addiction is doing to them and everyone around them when having that conversation. Showing tough love is sometimes the best medicine in getting a person to recovery.

You may feel that you can fix someone, but enabling a person does more harm than good. Inside most codependent relationships, there will come the point where the addict does not need you anymore and can leave you with a mess that you have to clean up on your own.

There may even come a situation where you might have had enough of the individual using you and treating you poorly.

It is that time to tell the addict that you can no longer help them. It may be a challenge initially, but it will be better for both you and the addict in the long run.

Saying no to someone you care about might be the wake-up call an addict needs to realize they need help.

While getting a person to quit a bad habit can seem daunting, it is not impossible.

Rehab treatment programs are lifesaving and sometimes the last hope in getting a person to stop using drugs and alcohol. Know that you cannot solve how to overcome codependency on your own.

How Can I Help My Loved One Get Treatment for Addiction?

Getting help for a person you care about can be difficult, but it is essential to get them there before it is too late. When that person reaches out for help, there is hope for a better tomorrow.

That person is taking the first step in realizing what their addiction is doing to them and others. Someone needs to be there for that person and build them up as they go through the journey of sobriety.

The journey to sobriety involves a lot of hard work and a lot of courage. Treatment enables people to counteract the powerfully disruptive effects of drugs on the brain and their behavior. 

Additionally, treatment can help individuals regain control of their lives. Like many diseases, it can take several attempts at treatment before you find the right approach. However, you can assure your loved ones that you will be supportive of their ongoing courageous effort.

Every person that gets helps for addiction has a different story to tell. How they got to where they are at can differ tremendously. Therefore, in treating addiction, each individual will need a unique approach to therapy.

A therapist might suggest when a person goes to treatment that you avoid or maintain very little contact. When an addict has little interaction with the outside world, it can make treatment more effective.

The addict must bear in mind that they have outside support as long as they try to get better.

Once a person has gone through treatment and is living a clean and sober life, it is vital to be mindful when around them.

Learn their triggers and stay away from any that may encourage a relapse. The more a person can devote to their sobriety, the more successfully they can remain sober.

How to End the Codependency Dance Today

Codependency is detrimental to any relationship. Enabling someone with an addiction is the worst thing to do as it only furthers their destructive behavior. Sometimes, it is even akin to slowly helping to kill them.

Enabling an addicted loved one also puts the enabler at risk of the consequences of addiction. There comes the point where enough is enough.

Helping an addict can be a revolving door of issues that often ends disastrously. More so, it is likely that resentment between the two people is now greater.

There are ways to break codependency, but addiction can complicate that. Addiction is a disease that does not care who or what it destroys.

Addiction ruins jobs, depletes bank accounts, ruins relationships, and sometimes ends lives. You can stand up to addiction and beat it by going into a treatment program.

Fighting addiction takes a lot of work, but it does not have to be done alone. In fact, recovery should never be attempted alone. Treatment will shine the light on what got you to start using drugs and alcohol in the first place.

A person will learn to avoid the traps addiction presents in the real world through therapy and counseling. It takes a strong commitment and helps create better and productive habits to live in a world of temptation.

Sources of Information

[1] Drugabuse.gov
[2] Psych Central
[3] Codependency and Addiction Guide