Can You Make An Addict Stop?

When a loved one is addicted to drugs or alcohol, it can be the most maddening thing for the people around them. For someone who was sober, it's hard to understand why the person who has the addiction just won't stop the behavior. After all, don't they see their destructive ways? Can't they see how they're hurting themselves? Don't they know that they're hurting everyone else around them?

The answer is no and that is an answer that is sometimes hard to accept. Many times the people around an addict will try to talk them out of the behavior. At first it may start with a simple conversation. For example, "You've been getting drunk a lot lately. Don't you think you should stop?"

That simple conversation can begin to escalate very quickly when the behavior continues. For the person who has the addiction, it feels like everyone is ganging up on them. They don't understand. They don't know what you're going through. And they're right. Unless you know what it's like to be an alcoholic or drug addict you don't know what it's like for the person going through it.

And they don't know what you're going through having to watch them be self-destructive by hurting themselves and everyone else around them. No amount of pleading or nagging on your part is going to get through to them enough for them to see that they have to change. When trying to talk reason with an addict, the conversation can quickly turn argumentative. Tempers flare; things are said to each other that end up breaking down a relationship instead of helping it.

Does that mean it's hopeless? Absolutely not. There's always hope to get through to a person who has a substance-abuse problem. But you can't always do it alone. In cases where an addict won't listen to the people around them and does not seek help, an intervention may be necessary.