Enabling from friends and family memberscan make it difficult to realize when you absolutely need to seek addiction treatment. However, many addicts throw up roadblocks for themselves in order to avoid searching out the help they truly need. Below are 5 things addicts say to themselves when they attempt to avoid treatment.
1. “I Can Stop Whenever I Want.”
Once you become addicted to a substance, your ability to stop abusing it under your own will has vanished. You will need professional care in order to stop.
If you have tried to stop or cut back without success or told yourself that you would cut back after certain events in your life, you are addicted and very likely need professional help. If you do not receive this treatment, it will be very difficult––or maybe even impossible––for you to quit.
2. “This Is My Life; I Can Do What I Want with It.”
许多人使用the excuse that they should be able to do whatever they want with their own lives, even if it means causing themselves problems. However, when you abuse drugs, you are causing problems for everyone in your life.
According to theNational Institute on Drug Abuse, “Drug abuse puts a lot of stress on parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents––anyone who is part of the home.” In addition, you are likely also causing problems for your friends, your coworkers, and anyone who cares for or depends on you.
3. “I Tried Treatment Before; It Didn’t Help.”
“No single treatment is appropriate for everyone,” and different programs may be necessary at different times in a person’s life (NIDA).
If you tried attending addiction treatment before and it wasn’t helpful to you, this could be for many reasons and should not dictate whether or not treatment may be beneficial to you now.
4. “I Need to Use Drugs Because…”
Many people attempt to use a stressful job, a tense home life, or a dozen other things to justify their substance abuse. Unfortunately, these are only excuses that start to sound the same when said over and over to your loved ones.
It is important to truly look at your life and realize the ways in which substance abuse affects you and the others around you because it is likely these effects are negative.
5. “I’m Not That Bad Off.”
Comparing yourself to other people you believe to be worse than you or saying that your addiction could be more severe is only a way of delaying the inevitable.
If you continue at the rate you are going, you will only experience more dangerous side effects and more severe symptoms of your addiction. It can be immensely helpful to seek addiction treatment now, before things get even worse.