7 Steps to Take if an Alcoholic or Addict Refuses Treatment

It is always easy to suggest treatment but what if your loved one is not ready or refuses to get addiction treatment? As a supporter, several ways will help you encourage and help them.

You can try out these steps to pull them from the dark and worst side of addiction. Just focus and stay calm throughout the journey. You will succeed and they will recover for a better life.

1. Accept the Reality and Deal with Patience

The first step is that you need to accept that your loved one is an addict. There are issues that you need to deal with with patience and love. Denial will not help anyone.

To change the situation, you can reach out to rehabs like the Addiction Hotline, and understand the treatment procedure. Later, you can join the support groups and learn better about how to support such an individual.

With an addict, you also need to be mentally prepared.

2. Learn More About Addiction

Once you have decided and prepared yourself to support the addict. The next step is to educate yourself about their mindset, situation, and possible root cause of addiction.

It will be easier for you to think about and understand what they are going through and how emotionally damaged they are. You can slowly gain trust and give them confidence as well for their addiction recovery journey.

3. Initiate and Intervention

Here, intervention means a planned talk or discussion where you can explain to the person what your thoughts are.

It's important to always speak openly and calmly during an intervention and to refrain from making the person feel like a target of criticism. An individual will only get further pushed into their addiction if they are made to feel guilty and self-conscious about it.

You can also appoint an intervention specialist for help.

4. Love and Support Them

An addict will experience feelings of isolation, worry, tension, and judgment. As a result, they don't interact because they don’t want to add on more negative emotions. They will just distance themselves from you and avoid you.

Why not plan some quality time together, maybe a walk or a dinner together?

You can easily communicate and show them how much you care. Another way to show them how much you care, how much you love them, and how much you want to support them is to involve them in activities and appreciate them.

5. Stop the Funding

This is a crucial step for any individual, which will lead to conflicts and big disputes but you need to stay strong. Providing funds for an individual enables their addiction. If you stop the funds for the person, they won’t have the money to fuel their habit, which may reduce the urge.

But yes, make sure you are very careful, calm, and confident. This can be dangerous too and they might find alternative paths to fulfill the craving. Be very attentive to their behavior. Having frequent check-ins is important.

6. Change the Circle

It is found that people surrounding the addicted person play a major role in encouraging them to develop an addiction. Try to remove such people from the person’s circle.

Do it slowly and wisely. What you can do is encourage them to make new sober friends who make them feel comfortable. Let them enjoy their hobby or something that helps them reduce their cravings. This can be a good and helpful step in the recovery journey.

7. Provide Them All the Required Treatment Facilities

It's crucial to have a variety of treatment choices on hand and accessible for a loved one who is struggling with addiction. Because of this, it's critical that, before your intervention, you familiarize yourself with the many kinds of rehab centers and treatment alternatives available in your community.

Addiction treatment comes in a variety of forms, such as holistic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing, inpatient and outpatient rehab, home detoxification, one-on-one counseling, group counseling, and family counseling.

Conclusion

Your understanding, knowledge, and support will only help them to fight the battle. It's a journey that requires patience, consistency, and care, which a person can only receive from their loved ones.

Where everyone is against them, be a pillar that they trust and share problems with. Later, you will see the positive change and they will surely accept the treatment and leave the addiction.