Identifying Addiction in Your Parents: Advice for Adult Children of Addicts
As your parents get older, it’s difficult to watch them need more and more medical treatment. The number of prescriptions tend to pile up and keeping track of what they’re taking for which issue can get sticky. Your parents want to be autonomous for as long as possible, but what should adult children do if they suspect that prescription drug addiction or alcoholism is becoming a problem for their parents? Here are a few tips.
Signs Your Parents Are Addicted to Drugs and Alcohol
The first step is to make certain that there is a problem. This can be harder to do if your parents don’t live with you, but if you spend enough time with them, alcoholic or addictive behavior shouldn’t be hard to spot. For example, if you stop by unannounced, do your parents seem irritated and in a rush to hide bottles or out of it and nonresponsive? Can you smell alcohol on them in the middle of the afternoon? Do they become defensive when you ask about their prescriptions or their drinking habits?
Look for changes in their personality. If they were once very careful about how they dressed and now tend to wear pajamas most of the time or if they once kept a very clean house and now things seem to be messy all the time, then it may be a sign of addiction. If their bills seem to be scattered about or if there is mail from bill collectors, they seem to be spending in unusual patterns, or they have weeks’ worth of unopened mail, showing that they haven’t been taking care of the details recently, can be another sign that things are slipping through the cracks.
Confronting Your Parents About Their Addiction
If you believe that your parents are using their prescriptions recklessly or drinking at an alcoholic level, confronting them can be difficult. Few will admit and most will ignore your offers of help. If they are drinking or using due to depression, they may not want to stop. Showing them what they’re missing -time with friends, grandchildren, et cetera -at an intervention is one way to help them to see what they’ve been missing lately and that drug and alcohol rehab can help. Include a few other family members and keep it nonjudgmental. They may not accept treatment, but they’ll at least understand that their behavior is dangerous and concerning to you and your family.
Helping Your Parents Get the Drug Addiction Treatment They Need
If your parents accept drug and alcohol addiction treatment, make sure that you have a spot in rehab waiting for them. Try to pack a bag for them ahead of time in anticipation of the intervention and have a professional interventionist available to escort them to treatment. It will help the process move forward more smoothly.
If you would like to secure a place for your parent or parents at Michael’s House, contact us today. We can help you assist your parents in getting back on track.
