Addiction and substance abuse can take a toll on a person’s life on many fronts, from mental health to physical well-being and, yes, in the realm of social ties. Addiction can seriously strain connections between the addict and those they know and love, whether close friends and family or professional liaisons at work and other arenas. This strain can persist even after the recovering addict leaves rehab, making rebuilding relationships by restoring trust and connection a vital part of the recovery process.
Substance abuse can strain even the strongest of relationships
The addict, in the throes of addiction, will neglect family ties, friendships and more in their single-minded focus on feeding that addiction. Even worse than neglect, they will sometimes take advantage of relationships, lying, cheating or stealing from loved ones if they feel they can get an advantage thereby to further indulge their substance abuse.
This is clearly not a healthy approach to maintaining a strong relationship. Ties can fray in such an atmosphere, friends draw apart, family members pull away. The addict can find themselves increasingly alone in their addiction, surrounded only by other addicts who are also more focused on their own substance abuse concerns than on those around them.
This can present a problem for the recovering addict upon leaving rehab and trying to re-enter their everyday life during the early recovery process. With previous relationships in tatters, the recovering addict can find themselves isolated and without a strong support network at a time when the support of loved ones can help make the difference between a successful recovery and relapse.
Repairing relationships and rebuilding connections
It can be imperative for the recovering addict to focus on repairing and mending relationships previously stained and damaged by addiction and neglect. The recovering addict must work on restoring trust and reforging connections among their closest loved ones to recreate a healthy support system around themselves.
This can be easier for some than others. Some addicts may find they are unable to push away those they love, and in fact may owe their recovery to their relationships due to concerned loved ones who stage an intervention to force them into rehab and recovery.
But others may find they have a great deal of work to do. Their previous behavior may have created a strong distance between them and loved ones, erecting a barrier of mistrust and skepticism that they must fight to bring down.
It may not be easy. You can’t force someone to trust you again. But with patient effort and sincerity, repeated gestures of good faith and persistent proof of change, the recovering addict can slowly but surely start to repair their strongest relationships and find new ones to help support them in recovery.
Taking the next steps
At Good Landing Recovery, rebuilding relationships is seen as an important part of the recovery process and patients are encouraged to reach out to loved ones and work on rebuilding trust and connections as part of recovery.
Healthy relationships are vital to grounding a recovering addict and giving them the connections they need to maintain their sobriety and adjust to life in recovery. Only by rebuilding frayed relationships and restoring trust and connection with loved ones can recover addicts find a way to a more lasting recovery.
