Even though addiction is prevalent all over the world, the truth is, that not everyone will get addicted.

If someone in your family is addicted, and you want to prevent the remaining members from following suit, the best solution is to prevent it.

Similarly, if no one in your family is addicted, and you want to stop it from ever happening, preventing it is the way to go. In this piece, you will learn the important steps to preventing addiction in your family.

Understand the concept of addiction

One of the best ways to prevent something is to understand what it means. You need to make your family understand that addiction is divided into two categories, behavioral and substance addiction.

Therefore, if they have any addictive habit apart from drugs and alcohol, it falls under behavioral addiction. Additionally, you need to teach them how addiction develops.

Most times, it occurs when we get so used to a habit that we enjoy it without realizing the dangerous effects that come with them.

Teach them to identify triggers/temptations

People who are addicted can easily give in to their addictive habit anytime they are faced with triggers. Hence, you need to teach your family how to spot these triggers so that they can avoid them.

Some of these triggers could be people, places, events, etc. If you want your family to live a life free of addiction, learning to identify these triggers is important.

Keep a healthy life

Sometimes, people get addicted because of a long history of unhealthy living. It is important to encourage each member of your family to inculcate healthy habits. This includes eating a nutritious diet, exercising regularly, taking enough water, sleeping for 7-8 hours, etc.

Overall, it is important to get your family members to open up to you. An addictive habit can be easily formed in secrecy. When they begin to keep secrets from you about their activities, they can addicted in the long run.

One of the painful things to discover is knowing that your family member is addicted. Although not everyone knows the signs to watch out for that tell someone is addicted. When your family member is addicted, they might not behave like the same person you used to know.

Therefore, you need to be prepared for a change in behavior, character, and also some physical signs. This would help you know how to assist them to break free from addiction.

Here are some ways to know if your family member is addicted

Mood swings

One of the common signs of addiction is mood swings. You will notice that they are unable to manage their emotions.

They can suddenly appear overly excited and the next minute, they are looking moody or depressed. If you notice that a calm person is always hyper, or someone active is looking calm, then addiction might be in play.

Private behavior

Addicted individuals prefer to keep to themselves instead of staying around people. They know that if they spend too much time with people, someone might find out about their addiction.

Hence, they develop a social stigma that allows them to withdraw from their relationships. You will notice that their doors are always locked, and they will be secretive about places they visit.

Overall appearance

When someone is addicted, it means that they have been abusing substances or undergoing some unhealthy behaviors for a long time.

If an individual is addicted to substances, there are lots of physical signs that you can notice.

For instance, they might have bloodshot eyes, rapid weight gain/loss, lack of personal grooming, slurred speech, persistent itching, regular sniffing, etc.

When you notice that your family member is addicted, remember not to be offensive with your approach. Rather, treat them with love so that they can easily open up to you.

When they have accepted their addiction problem, you can refer them to a rehab or addiction treatment center to begin their sobriety journey.

For families who have addicted family members, it might be difficult maintaining a cool atmosphere in the house because not everyone finds it easy to live with an addicted member.

If it is not properly controlled, addiction has the capacity to destroy the unity in a family. And this is why it is important to put in measures in place that will forestall this.

Families need to understand that when their loved one is addicted, it would be difficult to see eye to eye. Addiction has the capacity to affect the mental reformation of an individual, and this affects their interaction with people who are not addicted.

It is quite difficult to treat an addicted person because of the complications attached. First off, people who are addicted do not like accepting the fact that they are addicted. And this is why the conflict between families and their addicted loved ones would continue to exist.

The first step to helping an addicted family member, is to show love to them. For people who are addicted, their belief is no one cares about them and loves them. So, they would rather stay on their own that open up to others, for the fear of prejudice.

However, once a family shows ample care to their addicted loved one, there is a strong chance that their loved one would agree to come in for treatment.

Another way to make this a reality is to link up with a counselor. The reason why a counselor is important, is for the purpose of thorough evaluation.

A counselor helps the addicted individual to find out the real cause of their addiction, and proffers solution on how he or she can get better.

When the individual gets fully into the rehab, it is also mandatory that the family members give their unflinching support. At this stage, the individual needs the best of emotional, physical and mental support he can get, and one of the avenues to achieve this is through the family.

One of the factors that can make a family happy is sound health. No family would be happy if any of their loved ones is passing the night in the hospital due to a healthcare problem.

Moreso, no family would feel happy if their loved one is struggling with mental health problems or addiction.

The only way to change this is for the family to put structures in place that will see to their overall health and wellness. It might be difficult to stick by these measures, but they are usually worth it in the end.

Below are some health tips that the family should imbibe:

1. Exercise: It is important for the family to always exercise. The interesting part about exercising is, as stressful as it might look, the benefits are immense. It is even more advantageous for the family to exercise all at once because, it would be fun for them.

When the family is exercising together, it would be difficult for them to get bored or tired out. The family heads can also turn it to a form of competition that would ensure everyone’s active involvement.

• Good nutrition: In addition, it is essential for the family to imbibe the act of eating good food. It is a known fact that the family might not have ample time to be together and eat the same meals all through the day. However, when the family is together, it is important they eat a balanced diet with fruits, vegetables and enough water.

• Communication: The act of communicating within a family is one of the greatest health tips ever. The reason for this is communication helps to improve the mental and emotional needs of the family. For instance, if any of the family members is going through tough times at work or school, it is important to communicate to the rest of the family.

There are other health tips for the family to imbibe, but applying these fundamental ones would go a long way in keeping the family healthy.

Family is an integral aspect of recovery when it comes to addiction. Each one of these people at one time of their lives, have had to combat addiction, and this makes it easier to proffer the needed help to other members of the family who are addicted.

It is advised that when addiction occurs in a family, the remaining members of the family need to make certain conscious efforts to ensure that they help the individual to receive the necessary help.

Below are integral steps needed to treating addiction in the family:
Know all what you need to about addiction: This is usually the first step in addiction treatment, it is important that you know more about the addiction which is plaguing you, and how you can combat it. There is also an important need for you to know the origin of the addiction. This would aid your family in knowing how best to offer you the needed treatment. Proper education about addiction also helps the family to avoid blaming the addicted individual.

Link up with people who understand: For an addicted individual who has a loving family, he can be sure that they would assist him in connecting with other people who have a good understanding of the addiction recovery process.

Attend family therapy sessions: Handling an addict is not an easy task. Hence, as the addicted person gets better during the course of addiction, the family also tries to adjust. A good number of time, the family members usually absorb the consequences of the addiction, all in a bid to ensure that the addicted member of their family gets better.

Eat healthy meals: One important factor in addiction recovery, is having to eat nutritious meals, and this is one of the primary functions of the family. There is a need for the individual to eat nutritious meal and eat together with the family, it helps to strengthen the bond between the individual and other members of the family, owing to the fact that he must have been withdrawn from them for a good period of time.

Conclusively, the addicted individual needs the family all through the addiction recovery process, and it is essential that they are available to help out.