When you are married to someone that develops a drug addiction, you have choices to make. You can remain married and hope that your partner gets help (which does not typically happen), or you can separate or divorce. These are not easy choices, but people with a drug addiction usually cannot stop until they hit rock-bottom.
If you are just in a relationship with someone that has a drug problem, you can leave at any time. In fact, most counselors for drug addiction patients will tell you that it is best if you do leave. Quite often, the person who would not ordinarily take drugs is sucked into the world of drugs because he or she is deeply, emotionally bound to the person who had an addiction to begin with. In either situation, married or relationship, if you stay or if you leave, you have to find your own way of coping with this person. Here is how.
Drug Addiction Counseling for the Non-Addict
Just as the non-drinking partners of alcoholics have a support group and talk therapy, so do partners of those with a drug problem. You can, and should, find a support group in your area for people such as yourself. Talking with others who either cannot leave their partners or who have left their partners is a good way to process your own situation.
It will help you decide if you need to leave, or if you are determined to stay. Additional counseling with a cognitive behavioral therapist on an individual therapy level is also a good idea because then you can see if you are an "enabler" or if you feel obligated in some way to stay with someone that does drugs. Sometimes you can even recognize patterns of behavior in your prior relationships that tend to lead you into less-than-healthy relationships with new partners.
Counseling for the Non-Addict That Is Using
When you become part of a couple and you were not a drug user before, you run the risk of becoming a user if you stay in the relationship long enough. It is the "if you cannot beat them, join them" mentality that leads you down this path. If you no longer want to do drugs, and you want to get out of the relationship but you do not know how, you need counseling for the "non-addict" that is using. This phrase describes someone who was not an addict at the beginning of the relationship, but may have become an addict since. It is a very different form of counseling from a very different approach.
For more information, reach out to a counseling service like Sharon O'Connell, MA today.
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