Let's talk Rehab for a little minute

I have in my family several members who have spent time in a drug rehab facility. Some made the decision on their own, others were forced to get therapy by the court system. Either way, they always did better when they emerged from the treatment facility. Right up until life happened and then, some of them would relapse for a short period, others would check back into a care facility and others would revert back to the way of life they had known before drug rehab without looking back. I get the link between family and support, but every person I’ve known who has battled drug abuse has had an existing support system in place that they then turn their backs on. It’s not that the addict does not love or want his/her family around, it’s that the drug takes over and the addict is no longer thinking clearly, they only think about getting their next fix. Sometimes I feel that it really is the family who suffers most. The abuser knows we’re there. He/she shuns us because we are the voice of reason. We have to sit in therapy and profess over and over the same thing we’ve been saying, “we love you. We’re here for you” and it is like punishment for some of us because we keep saying and reinforcing our love, and we keep being stepped on and pushed away because the addict is not learning how to live a sober life on the outside.