In Drug and Alcohol Rehab one of the most difficult things to find is the truth. The sad thing is that not only does this affect the addicted person, it seems the truth gets lost within the family and friends as well. Often rationalization takes the place of the truth. Way too many times family and friends are far to quick to forgive and forget. Addiction thrives on secrecy. Addiction blossoms under lack of communication.

I was recently contacted by someone for advice about their family. A family member had a long standing addiction lasting years. There was a total lack of discussion. It was being dealt with behind “closed doors”. While being handled in this fashion, it had progress to the family home being set on fire. Even this dramatic event was not discussed openly. Sending a family member to drug or alcohol rehab should not be done under a total veil of secrecy. I’m not saying you need to take out a notice in the local newspaper. However if done behind closed doors within a family, it allows to addicted individual to continue to manipulate and lie to those family members out of the loop.

Both in and out of a drug rehab center when dealing with someone with addiction, only the clear observable truth must be dealt with. Consequences of unacceptable behavior must be clear. Appologies should have NOTHING to do with outcome. Only observable behavior that can be proven is acceptable. Anything that cannot be seen or tested should not be believed until someone has been sober for at least a year, and most likely two. Truth is the light that addiction cannot stand. Shine more of it in your life.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 30th, 2006 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.