mdolla: 2 Things You Must Do If You Love Someone Suffering From Addiction

If you have a loved one going through addiction recovery, it can be difficult on your emotions. Drugs aren’t the only things people can get addicted to – and you know this first hand. People can suffer from video game, pornography, sex, gambling, and other legal pleasures. The American Society of Addiction Medicine says that addiction is when you become dependent on a substance or behavior so badly that it disrupts your daily life and relationships with other people. You’ve seen how your loved one’s addiction to a substance or behavior has warped his/her sense of self and ambitions – it’s pretty much destroying his/her life.

Ironically, it’s more heartbreaking when your loved one is trying to recover from addiction – that’s when you see him/her suffer the most as he/she goes through withdrawal symptoms. The good news is there are things you can do that are proven to ease your loved one’s journey into healing and beating his/her addiction.

1. Make a Vow to Remind Him/Her He/She is Precious Every Single Day

Addiction makes someone feel powerless, like they’re a slave to their addiction. They also feel worthless because of their perceived weakness to overcome their battle with what they’re addicted to. What makes it worse is the stigma your loved one has to carry that addicts are criminals without self-control who don’t deserve sympathy.

You, and any licensed medical professional know better – addiction is a disease and not the fault of the patient. Drug detox programs often try to educate loved ones that addiction patients deserve help and support because they’re not in control anymore – their addiction has biochemically hardwired their brains to force them into the seemingly inescapable cycle of dependency.

That’s why it’s important to empower your loved one and remind him/her he/she is special and priceless to you and so many others. Everyday strengthen his/her fighting spirit by letting him/her know who he/she is, that he/she can beat his/her addiction, that he/she means the world to you.

Make a vow: For every day your loved one fights his/her addiction, you say to him/her: “You’re precious to me and life wouldn’t be the same without you. I want the old you back. You can beat this because you’re the most powerful person I know to fight something like this.”

2. Cook All His/Her Meals

Psychologists now say that what you eat affects your mental health.^[1] Psychologist, Emily Deans, M.D. says that eating fast food, junk food, and a typical Western high-sugar, high-fat diet shrinks your hippocampus, which is the part of your brain that helps prevent depression and dementia. Studies also show that people who eat a wholesome nutritious diet have a lower risk of depression.

Addiction preys on depression, and being depressed can make addiction recovery multiple times harder for your loved one. In fact, depression is both a hallmark symptom of addiction and withdrawal. You can help fight your loved one’s depression by making sure he/she only eats home-cooked, wholesome meals. Preventing him/her from eating junk food means you’ll help his/her hippocampus fight his/her depression by nurturing it with nutritious food.

Bulgarian professor, Hristo Mermerski, who’s famous for inventing a recipe that’s enjoyed success in putting cancer patients in remission, advises to enrich your daily meals with omega-3 fatty acids for a healthy lifestyle and overall better mental health. He says that omega-3 fatty acids have been found to play a major role in brain biochemistry.

You don’t have to stand by and watch as your loved one suffers through withdrawal. Be proactive and fight with him/her by doing these two things! If you do these as steadfastly as your loved one fights to recover, you’ll boost his/her chances of recovery significantly.

Featured photo credit: skeeze via pixabay.com