Unfortunately, I had a pretty traumatic childhood. My parents were always fighting, and I was faced with trying to decide what to do about my own personal feelings. When I got older, I knew that I needed to do something to relieve the stress that I was feeling even many years later, so I started focusing on going to counseling. My first few appointments were a little nerve-racking, but the counselor worked hard to make me feel comfortable. I was really impressed with how gentle and kind she was, and I felt really great about the progress I was making. This blog is all about benefiting from counseling.
Benefitting From Counseling
How Therapy Can Help If Your Child Is Addicted To Drugs
Ron Henry
So many parents today are struggling with teens or young adult children who are addicted to drugs, and this is an issue that leaves parents feeling guilty, ashamed, and unsure about what to do. If you have a child that is a drug addict, and if you are having a difficult time handling this, you could benefit from attending therapy. Therapy is not only helpful for addicts that want to break their addictions, but it can also be helpful for the family members of struggling addicts. Here are several ways therapy can help you.
You can learn how to stop blaming yourself
As a parent of a drug addict, you might find yourself taking the blame for your child's choices. If so, you might be suffering a lot more than you need to be, simply because this problem most likely has nothing to do with you. Blaming yourself and feeling guilty over it will only make you feel worse about it, and this could end up causing you to fall into a deep depression. Guilt and shame are feelings that are hard to accept and handle, and you should realize that you do not need to feel this way. Your child made the choice to use drugs; not you.
You can learn how to help and not enable
Secondly, therapy can be extremely helpful for teaching you the difference between enabling and helping. From the time your child was born, you were probably there taking care of the child, rescuing him or her from problems, and comforting and helping him or her through difficult situations. As a parent, it is completely natural to want to continue doing these things for your children; however, doing so might be enabling their addiction instead of helping them break it. If you want to learn how to help and not enable, you will need professional guidance.
You can find relief by talking about it
There is a negative stigma attached to people with drug addictions, and many parents really struggle with being open and honest about their children and the habits they have developed. The problem with this is that it often prevents parents from talking about it. Instead, they hold in their feelings and try to act like everything is fine. Talk therapy allows you to voice your inner thoughts, feelings, and struggles and releasing these things can be healing for you emotionally.
If you are struggling with a situation like this, you should consider visiting a therapist. You can learn more about therapy by contacting a clinic like Can't We Just Get Along Counselling Inc. today.
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