Substance Abuse and Relationships

Substance abuse can destroy relationships because it places huge burdens on the people around them. The burden and stress that is put on their family and friends causes family roles to become warped or reversed. For example, a child puts their drunken father to bed or a daughter (or son) hiding their mother's pills so that she can't use again. Or, drug addiction could isolate someone entirely from the world and have no close relationship. These may be the ones who sit in their living room and wonder why no one comes to see them anymore.

Relationships are usually the hardest thing for an addict to fix. It often requires years of hard work, cooperation, and therapy. When a relationship is allowed to deteriorate, it may create a cycle of addiction because the children learn faulty social behavior and coping mechanisms. Statistics show that the child of an alcoholic is four times more likely to become an alcoholic than the national average.

• Information taken from Treatment Finder-Substance Abuse and Relationships