Addiction Resources for Parents – How to Help an Addicted Child

If your child is one of the millions of people struggling with drug use, you may feel sad, bewildered, and unclear about what to do next. Because of the potentially catastrophic consequences of drug misuse, caregivers should have an open dialogue with their children about the issue. Read below for some suggestions about how to have a conversation with your child and possible next steps.

What is Addiction?

Addiction is a devastating medical condition that affects both children and their families. For parents, it’s important to understand that addiction isn’t simply a choice or lack of willpower – it’s a disease that fundamentally changes how your child’s brain functions. When a young person develops an addiction, their brain chemistry is altered, making it extremely difficult for them to stop using drugs or alcohol on their own, even when they want to.

The condition is characterized by:

• An inability to control drug or alcohol use despite negative consequences
• Development of tolerance, requiring more of the substance to achieve the same effect
• Experiencing withdrawal symptoms when trying to stop
• Continuing use despite knowing it’s causing harm to themselves and their family
• Prioritizing drugs or alcohol over school, activities, and relationships

As a parent, recognizing that addiction is a medical condition rather than a moral failing is crucial – this understanding helps guide appropriate responses focused on treatment and support rather than punishment or shame. The webpage emphasizes that this is why professional intervention and support through rehabilitation programs are often necessary steps in helping an addicted child recover.

What Steps Can Parents Take To Help Their Child Overcome Addiction?

Steps that parents can take to help their child overcome addiction include establishing clear boundaries, maintaining open dialogue, monitoring daily activities, building support networks, and seeking professional intervention when needed. These strategies, combined with consistent supervision and emotional support, form the foundation for effective recovery support. Review the detailed guidelines below for implementing these approaches.

• Clarifying Expectations: Parents should clarify expectations and set boundaries regarding substance use, especially if risky behaviors like drinking or drug use are observed as per the study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration published in 2022. Supervising a child’s day-to-day activities or talking to a teenager involved in substance use disorder can be challenging.

  Parents must supervise daily activities and engage in discussions about substance use disorders. Parents should resist peer pressure influences on their children, as teens often prioritize peer advice over parental guidance.

  Listening to children is crucial, but parents should also seek insights from others who may notice warning signs, such as friends’ parents, teachers, and coaches.

• Choosing the Right Moment: Conversations about substance usage with a child or teenager lack a “right” time. Both the adult and the child often feel uneasy during this discussion.

  This conversation represents a crucial opportunity for parents, as substance misuse has far-reaching consequences. Suggested strategies for starting a conversation with a young person regarding substance usage include the following.

• Addressing Failed Efforts: When parents’ attempts to help an addicted child fail, they may feel regret or anger.

  Parents should recognize that substance misuse is a medical issue requiring professional help.

  • Seeking Professional Help: Some children may require professional intervention to access therapy if family discussions are ineffective.

    An intervention involves loved ones and a professional facilitator encouraging the addict to enter rehab. During this meeting, parents can express the impact of the addiction and outline their hopes for the future.

  • Benefits of an Objective Perspective: Involving a professional counselor, therapist, or intervention specialist can provide an objective perspective and support families in achieving the intervention’s goals.

Early Warning Symptoms of Addiction

Early Warning Symptoms of Addiction often manifest through behavioral and physical indicators that parents should carefully observe. Key warning signs include:

1. Social isolation
2. Financial difficulties
3. Deteriorating health conditions
4. Persistent substance use despite consequences
5. Recurring legal troubles

When these symptoms appear alongside withdrawal symptoms, immediate professional intervention becomes crucial. The following comprehensive list details specific indicators that can help identify addiction in its early stages.

Help for Families With an Addicted Adult Child

If your adult child has an addiction, learn how to help them effectively. Below is important information and tips that assist.

Avoid Enabling Behavior

Rockville’s study published in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2004 highlights that many parents unknowingly enable their adult children. Providing support may lead to enabling behavior. Enabling behavior includes:

• Offering to babysit the grandchildren while your adult child parties
• Giving money to your adult child, which they use to buy drugs or alcohol
• Contributing to living expenses by allowing your child to live at home
• Performing household chores such as grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking for your adult child

Parents desire the best for their children. Enabling behavior may appear as helpful support. However, this behavior often leads to significant deterioration in the addicted behavior instead of improvement.

More Resources on Addiction:

• Alcohol Support Groups: Definition, Purpose, Programs, Near Me
• How to Find an AA Meeting in Ohio
• Addiction: Stages, Warning Signs, and Next Steps

Enabling makes it easier for adult children to continue substance use. Parents benefit from discussing their situations with other parents or seeking online resources to learn how to avoid enabling their adult child. Maintaining enabling behaviors likely worsens your adult child’s substance use.

Selecting a Treatment Facility for a Child or Adolescent

In the past, adolescents needing substance misuse treatment received care in the same facilities as adults, lacking accommodations for their age or developmental level. Modern rehab professionals recognize that young people require individualized care during rehabilitation and recovery.

Some children require the structure of a round-the-clock residential facility. In contrast, others benefit from less intense programs such as outpatient rehab or partial hospitalization, which allow them to live at home with their parents. 

It is also important to consider academic commitments, work duties, and extracurricular activities.

Parent and Family Member Self-Care

Parents in good mental and physical shape serve as better caregivers during the recovery process. Effective family therapy addresses the emotional needs of both parents and children.

Parents and guardians must prioritize self-care by engaging in healthy habits such as eating well, exercising regularly, getting sufficient sleep, and learning stress management techniques. Seeking professional therapy also supports their well-being. This focus on caregiver needs represents essential self-care that prevents feelings of resentment and exhaustion.

Siblings of the rehabilitating child require therapeutic support and validation of their emotions. Substance-abusing children often attract the majority of attention, even if that attention is negative.

The child in rehab may give the impression to siblings that they hold greater importance to their parents. Siblings often respond with defiant behavior or experimentation with drugs and alcohol to compensate for perceived neglect.

All children in the home, not just the child in therapy, must have their needs met.

Supporting Your Family After Rehab

The road to recovery begins after leaving a treatment facility. Addiction represents a disease with an ever-present risk of relapse. Families must prepare for potential setbacks, even when they feel more resilient.

Addiction is a chronic disorder that requires lifelong symptom management. Relapse does not indicate a lack of willpower or treatment failure. A child with a substance use problem requires an ongoing maintenance program to reduce cravings and teach coping skills, similar to how a child with diabetes requires continual monitoring of nutrition and blood sugar levels.

Therapeutic services and resources for children in recovery and their families are essential after rehab. Family therapy usually starts after the individual in treatment has made progress in recovery. With support, parents can help their children utilize the skills learned in rehab.

Finding Out More About Addiction

Addictions come in a wide variety, each with its unique characteristics. Addiction also has varying effects on its victims.

Learning as much as you can about addiction is one of the most effective steps you can take. It would help if you learned as much as possible about the subject.

You can choose from several reliable options.

• If you or someone you know needs information on substance misuse or addiction, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has a lot of useful information. You can use it to determine the effects of alcohol and most drugs.
• The Association for People Struggling with Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependencies is another great resource.

  Substance abuse and alcoholism are discussed at length on this excellent website.