Christmas with an Addict

The holidays are upon us which means family members will be coming together for the first time in several months, if not longer. This is the time when you get to hear what your family has been up to all year. So, it is no surprise this is also when a lot of families realize their loved one is struggling with addiction.

This is where life can go terribly wrong. There are two options at that point, one pro-active and the other life-threatening. The options are to act or to do nothing. Some families will bury their head in the sand and decide to wait till after the holidays to press the issue. “After all, it’s the holidays!” “We will spend time with him (or her) as a family and then do something.”

Here are a few reasons this is extremely dangerous.

1) The family is all there and together they have the best chance of convincing the addict to go into drug treatment. Addicts need to be pushed to get help and who better to do that than those they are closest to.

2) During the holiday season, the addict will most likely receive gifts. Whether or not the gifts are money or not doesn’t matter. They will either use cash gifts or pawn any tangible gifts in order to fund their habit. A source of money for their use makes it harder to get them willing to go into rehab treatment. This makes their chance of an overdose even higher.

3) You have them there. While you may desire to have your loved one close to you for the holidays, this may be your best, if not also the only chance to get them into addiction treatment; while they are in front of you.

I hate to even bring this up, but the truth is addiction does not discriminate. I have talked to families who have lost a loved one to an overdose during the holidays because they waited. Now instead of just one holiday without them, every holiday going forward is a painful reminder.

Don’t wait and don’t let addiction ruin the rest of your holidays.