It is devastating to watch someone you love suffer, lose money, become sick, and oftentimes even homeless due to substance abuse and other destructive behaviors. Family members will want to provide a short-term solution to aid the individual in their pain. While it may provide temporary relief, the reality is that not setting boundaries and providing intervention to your loved ones to help them get treatment will keep them sick and continues to keep them at a high chance of accidental overdose.

Many family members fail to realize that taking care of and doing things for a sick individual that they cannot do things for themselves, while addiction; is extremely selfish. Codependency is not an act of love. It is a desperate attempt to make your own self feel better and in control of a person and situation that is beyond control. A codependent person gets their own self-worth, satisfaction, and comfort by providing for others, even when sacrificing their own needs or those of the greater family system. Yet, families and loved ones must realize that striving for their own feelings of comfort could leave them at-risk addicts for dead.

It is that serious. Addiction is not a choice, it is an illness. The seed to recovery must be planted first by those who care about the individual most. That is the solution, that is the healing. Although it will be difficult and painful and look like unclear territory; stopping enabling behavior is what will change the outcome for your loved one. Battling codependency within the family unit will not only help get your loved one into treatment but will help keep them in that treatment program and assist them in staying accountable for long-term recovery afterward. Addiction does not happen in isolation. It is the buildup of many experiences, messages, and choices made both by the addicted person and for the addicted person. In order to achieve long-term healing and completely eliminate the risk of overdose and death by addiction, we must first eliminate the presence of codependent relationships and work to heal the entire family of the affected individual.