How do you know if
you're enabling a loved one?
How do you know if you're
enabling loved one?
It's understandable that you
want to help your loved one.
Their addiction has a grasp on
them and you want to set them
free.
But are you helping? Or are you
enabling? Addiction is a
progressive and often terminal
illness.
Most people can't stay sick by
themselves.
In other words, addiction
requires an enabling system to
continue to progress.
I talked to Addiction Campuses'
Erica Lathom for some examples.
So we're here today
to talk a little bit about
unconditional love versus
enabling behavior.
And while we all want to care
about and take care of our loved
ones, we want to be sure that we
don't cross the line into
behavior that actually enables
them or helps to facilitate
their addiction.
Maybe making a car payment or
paying their rent when you know
they've spent their money on
drugs or alcohol.
Maybe provide them with some
food or a hot meal or take them
groceries. Or perhaps you could
help to fund a treatment program
something where your financial
contribution would be much more
constructive.
We have to find ways
to help people THROUGH their
struggle not TO their struggle.
It's easy to confuse those
things when you're coming from a
place of worry or fear, but
enabling does far more damage
than most people realize.
What we see is people
who say they want to help
their loved one get better.
But in the later stages of
addiction, enabling becomes an
act of desperation.
Family members start blaming
each other for things that the
addict are doing.
They try to rationalize the
reasons why they're doing it but
with them justifying this.
They are simply trying to
give in addict excuses and
they're loving them to death.
Now I was a master
manipulator.
So my family and the doctors
were my biggest enablers.
I could
victimize them to think that I
needed money for anything and
they just kept feeding me more
money.
I would have every tragedy in
the world happened to me.
You know, electric bill was
short.
You know, paycheck didn't come in
on time.
Car broke down.
Whatever the circumstance was,
I would always call my
family and you know make them
feel sorry for me. And they would
you know, give me money to
support what they thought was
that tragedy.
And in fact, I was using it to
buy drugs.
Now that's a scary
thought.
Your loved one buying drugs with
the money that you had meant for
food, gasoline or to pay a bill.
And parents have reasons to be
scared.
According to a recent CNN report,
teen overdose death rates
climbed 19 percent last year.
So what's a parent to do?
There's nothing stronger than a
parent's love for their child.
And so when I'm suffering my
parents want fix it.
My life is not theirs to fix.
This is my responsibility.
You know parents don't see the
fact that they're enabling their
kids by giving them certain
things we're not holding true to
what they really need to value.
When I got to treatment, it was
first time my mother valued my
emotional stability.
And I'm upset I'm going through
depression all these things out
of treatment.
I convinced her to buy me a six
pack of beer because I had a
pill problem.
She's wanted the best for me but
she doesn't want to see me
suffer. Enabling tears down
relationships.
Suddenly you can't talk to your
loved one for fear that they
might blow up on you.
Constantly having to tiptoe
around them you put aside your
own needs which in turn cause
resentment and all the while
they're still living a self
destructive lifestyle and like
your relationship it's just not
getting better.
I was crafty.
I would I would get the money
in any way I had to: Beg, borrow
steal.
I ended up in jail several times
for my illegal activity. My
bottoms were pretty devastating.
I ended up losing everything.
I lost my career. I lost my home.
Ultimately, my husband died of an
overdose.
And I lost my children.
So the first couple of times I
was arrested,
my family was very supportive.
You know they would always try
to help me bond me out.
They didn't want to see me sitting
in jail.
I called my mom and asked her to
help me and she said, "Call your
drug dealer." And hung up the
phone.
That helped me hit the bottoms
hard enough to know that my
family was done after I was
arrested.
And my mom basically cut me off.
They stayed completely out of my
life until I made the decision
to go into a recovery program.
When they cut me off it forced
me into a situation that forced
me far enough down into the hole
to know that there was no other
choice.
I had to do something different
because my way wasn't working
anymore.
I'm now in recovery because
somebody finally told me no and
pointed me in the direction of
sobriety.
Sober living is the most
important thing people need is a
support system to keep them
connected to mind body and
spirit.
So in a sober living house when
I'm suffering they know the cure
is not just a quick fix they're
not going to say everything's
fine everything's okay.
They know that I need some
spiritual connection.
They know I need people to help.
So they'll pick me up to take me
to an AA meeting they'll take me
to do some volunteer work.
We see it all the time.
People will want the easier
softer way they want things to
be okay immediately because I'm
looking for instant
gratification I'm a drug addict
at heart.
I want things to be OK.
They need people who won't make
excuses for their behavior but
will give them the support and
encouragement that they need.
Many families feel guilty for
their loved ones addictions and
they enable out of that guilt.
With help you can learn to stop
this destructive behavior just
as the addict cannot get better
alone.
Neither can the co-dependent.
There's a difference between
helping and enabling knowing
that difference is crucial to
getting your loved one into
treatment and getting them the
help that they need.
If you are a loved
one is struggling with addiction,
we're here to help.
Give us a call at 888-216-4032.
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