- Image by epSos.de via Flickr
Overcoming addiction is an incredibly difficult process because it can tax one’s emotions and mental health just as much as it can tax one’s physical body. Although addiction is an altogether unfortunate state of affairs, some of the most fortunate addicts are people who have friends and family who love them and are willing to stand by them in their struggle to get clean. One of the most difficult state of affairs is when an addict has very close friends or family members who are also addicted to drugs.
It can be nearly impossible, for example, for a person to get clean if their husband or wife is also addicted and is not as dedicated to becoming sober. Staying drug free is not only a process of choosing not to do drugs, but it is also a process of not exposing oneself to drugs. As such, it is very difficult for a person in recovery to succeed in their sobriety if they are living in a home where there are drugs, especially if those are the same drugs to which the person in recovery has been addicted.
Unfortunately, people who are dedicated to sobriety must sometimes sever ties with friends, family members, and sometimes even spouses who are addicted to drugs and have not yet decided to go to rehab or get clean. This can be an incredibly hard part of the process and is often a part of the process for which the person requires the greatest amount of support from friends and family who are drug free. The best case scenario is a scenario in which couples decide to go to rehab together and are mutually supportive in their efforts to get clean and stay clean. One of the dangers, however, may be that if one member of the couple relapses, the other member may be more likely to follow suit.
