The Dangers of Thanksgiving for an Addict

Holidays are hard for those recovering from addiction and Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season. The stress level of families throughout the country goes up, especially those who have addicts in their family. The way addicts deal with stress is to continue to use drugs or alcohol.

To help you through this, we have put together the following list of things both addicts and their family members can do to help those in recovery, so they stay sober and, so they can have a pleasant holiday season.

1) The first thing is obvious. You must handle the drinking that comes along with the holidays. Try and hold back how much people are drinking by controlling how much you provide or what alcohol they have access to. Being around a bunch of drunk people will make things much more difficult for an addict, whether it is the temptation of drinking or struggling with cravings in order to make dealing with family members easier. Have some creative, non-alcoholic options available and encourage family members and friends to curb their drinking out of respect.

2) Keep confrontations to a minimum. Tensions get high around the holidays with family being back together, making life stressful. Try to keep yelling matches and arguments from happening. Obviously, this is not completely under your control but do what you can to encourage things to remain calm. Do not put huge expectations on the recovering addict as this will also help them through the holidays.

3) One of the scariest choices we see is for families who decide to wait until after the holidays to send their loved one to addiction treatment. Someone struggling with substance abuse is like a ticking time bomb. They are prone to legal charges, overdoses, stealing, as well as causing lasting damage to their lives and those around them. Waiting until after the holidays puts everyone at risk. If you love an addict, don’t wait until after the holidays.