WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOU LOVE AN ADDICT?
 If you love an addict -- and many of us do -- you probably alternate between feeling angry, hurt and scared.
Addiction is a chronic brain disease that affects both the addicted person and anyone who knows him or her. Families often feel at their wits’ end -– not knowing what to do or not wanting to make those tough decisions.
The HBO series “Addiction” (www.hbo.com/addiction) describes a type of intervention model called Community Reinforcement and Family Training or CRAFT. It is explained in detail in the book “Get Your Loved One Sober” by Robert J. Myers and Brenda L. Wolfe. While the model is challenging, the success rate for getting loved ones into treatment is reported to be near 70 percent.
According to Myers, blaming, scolding, nagging, pleading and name-calling do not work. Family members and loved ones must learn new ways of interacting with the addict. CRAFT teaches how to reward healthy behavior and ignore unhealthy behavior.
People enter treatment when the reasons not to use outweigh the reasons to use. And even then, their motivation is more about figuring out how to continue using without the consequences. Research has clearly shown, though, that family members can help shift the balance by making sober time more enjoyable than using time.
When the addict is not using, have fun together. When the addict does use, remove yourself from the situation. The more pleasure your loved one experiences when sober, the less attractive getting drunk or high will be. One might say that you are "enabling" healthy behavior.
You must also learn how to withdraw rewards when the addict is using –- which is the opposite of the traditional concept of enabling.
Substance abuse creates lots of problems and messes in the addict’s life. It causes missed work, embarrassing behavior, vomit, wrecked relationships and worse. When it is your own loved one who gets into these messes, it is difficult to stand by and let him or her suffer. However, fixing the situations or cleaning up after your loved one from those poor choices only makes it OK for those choices to be repeated over and over again. This may indeed be the most difficult lesson of CRAFT.
With the exception of allowing truly dangerous behavior, let your loved one deal with the problems. Don’t bail him out of jail or call off sick for her or even help him upstairs if he’s passed out at the bottom. These are called natural consequences and are powerful motivators to rethink one's choices.
Most families worry that if they don’t rescue or protect their loved ones from destructive behavior, death may be the result. Death is a consequence of untreated addiction. The longer families put off letting their loved ones experience the natural consequences of their behavior, the greater the risk that something really serious will occur.
Once an addict enters treatment, it is not unusual for him or her to complain to the family about the program in an effort to get out of his or her commitment. Unfortunately, many families accept what is being reported. Instead of letting the addict deal with the situation, the family tries to interfere.
The best thing you can do if you have someone in treatment is to work with the therapist to develop a plan that provides some specific ways to respond to the addict –- especially in regard to a relapse.
For more information on addiction and how to cope with a loved one’s disease, log onto www.hbo.com/addiction and watch the HBO series “Addiction.”
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 Marion/Crawford ADAMH Annual Report
Our Mission Statement
The mission of the Crawford-Marion ADAMH Board, under local leadership, is to assure the availability
of high quality alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services to all residents through planning
(assessing needs and resources, and determining priorities); purchasing cost effective services
to the extent resources are available; coordinating services; and evaluating
these services.
Vision Statement
We envision communities where recovery is possible, resiliency is innate, communities are supportive,
stigma is eliminated and resources are plentiful.
Our Purpose
Giving hope. Providing treatment. Teaching independence. Gaining peace of mind.
That's the driving force behind the Crawford-Marion Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental
Health Services (ADAMH), responsible for monitoring, evaluating and planning all publicly funded
mental health and substance abuse treatment needs for Crawford and Marion County residents.
Clients range in age from pre-schoolers and teens to older adults. Many rely on some form of
public assistance, while others are steadily employed. Some are suffering from a neuro-biological
disorder (formerly referred to as a "mental illness"), while others suffer from dependence on
alcohol or other drugs.
Our network of critical support services strives to provide a unified system of treatment and
follow-up care so those served don't "fall through the cracks." It is our goal to actively protect
and maintain the dignity and individual liberty of those we serve, while helping them become
healthy, active members in our community.
The Crawford-Marion ADAMH Board encourages the development of comprehensive, yet cost-effective,
mental health and substance abuse services in our area, and works to ensure that these services
meet the highest standards of care. |
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