3 Tips for People in a Relationship with an Addict

Having a relationship with someone who has a difficulty with substance addiction can be taxing, exhausting, fearful, all of the above really. Maneuvering the relationship can be even more difficulty.

3 Tips to Emotionally Support your Souse

For some people feelings of guilt can arise as they feel that they are the reasons why their partner continues to use substances. Other times, it’s feelings of inadequacy to help their partners through their addictions.  Here are some tips for those who are in relationships with partners that struggle with addictions.

Understanding Your Limitations

This is a big key towards any relationship but even more so with someone in a relationship with struggles with addictions. Understanding that we can only go so far with our help. Understanding that there is not much you can really do to impact your partner’s addiction besides support for help. A true understanding of your limitations will help find your boundaries with the relationship.

Tips for Loneliness

Stop Blaming Your Self

Your spouse’s addiction is not your fault. This may sound very matter of fact, but the reality is that even if we know that we are not the cause of the addiction, we may feel that we are a big part in their addiction. This is a very normal feeling shared by many people who are in relationships with people that struggle with addictions. Feeling that maybe if you loved more, or maybe if you helped more your partner would not struggle with addiction. The reality is that your partner’s addiction is a made up of multiple things such as their family genes, past trauma, difficulty with coping strategies, etc.

Supportive Not Enabling

One of the main things that people struggle with is understanding the fine line between being supportive and enabling their partners.  The line between supportive and enabling is when you are being a part of the healing process rather that the addiction process. This is something that is not easy to answer you can determine by asking yourself some questions. 

Am I doing this because this will help them or am I doing this because this will alleviate them? Is this something that they need or is this something that they want?