When someone is in need it is natural for the people who care about them to try to help. Since addiction takes over a person’s life they stop taking care of themselves as they should. An addicted person will stop paying their own bills to make sure they have enough money to get high. Cars get repossessed, evictions happen, or they may go without food – it’s just a reality of the fact that addictions progressively get worse.

So it’s normal for the people around them to get into the habit of helping – people with substance use issues do need a lot of help just to survive. As the addiction gets worse and the need for help rises, people begin to feel like it’s their responsibility to make sure that the addicted loved one is okay.

This is where codependency happens.

The codependent person starts to tie their own self-worth into what they can do for their loved one. If they can’t help the loved one them they feel like they aren’t good enough, or that they aren’t doing their job.

How an Interventionist Can Help

It might be hard, especially for a codependent person, but holding an intervention for the addicted loved one can help everyone in the family.

Talking to an intervention specialist can help the family realize that intervention is the healthiest way to deal with the addiction. Someone who is codependent might need a little extra coaching, and that’s okay, that’s what the intervention specialist is there for.

Our interventionists have dealt with many families and while no situation is exactly the same, they have experience in holding interventions in very similar situations to yours. It’s not unusual to have one or more members of the family that have codependency, and the interventionalist can help your whole family through the intervention.

One thing that your specialist should make clear is, if your loved one happens to choose not to get treatment, the family needs to pull back its support. This will be a little harder for the family members with codependency and the interventionalist can help every step of the way.

If this becomes the case, it’s important for the whole family to support the ones that are struggling with this aspect of it. Codependent or not, tough love is always – tough.

Getting Treatment for Codependency

This might seem a little daunting, and people are often hesitant to get treatment for codependency. Most people think that if the addicted loved one gets help then the codependency will go away on its own. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.

When people become codependent, they become reliant on other people, in a similar way as the addicted person relies on substances. Codependency isn’t going to make anyone lose their home, but it does make them lose their sense of self. It’s very important for the person’s mental health to get that back.

The good part is that it’s completely doable.

Another aspect of getting treatment for codependency is that it’s also best for the addicted family member as well. If they go through treatment and go right back into the same scenario of the codependent person taking care of everything, then it is very easy for them to slip back into their old habits too.

Self-accountability is good for the whole family.

Find an Intervention Specialist

It’s important to find a specialist that meshes well with your family and understands your family’s dynamic. Most interventionists have dealt with families that have codependent dynamics. It’s a common thing that happens when one family member is addicted to alcohol or drugs.

We know it’s a hard step to take but an intervention specialist can help the entire family. In fact, in most cases, an addicted person needs their family to help them see that there is a serious problem.

So what you should you do next?

Contact us and get connected to an interventionalist that will work best for your family.