Drugs and The Loss of Friends

The family of an addict often get talked about, but it isn’t just family who feel the negative effects of drugs, friends feel it too.

Family are often very close, but as is the case of something thrust upon us at birth it isn’t always true for everyone. Friends, on the other hand, are chosen, they are the people you share common interests or opinions with, it’s a support network of fun and friendship, ideally anyway.

For this reason, it can be very painful to see a friend slipping into the grip of addiction. Friends often try and help, try to get the person to realise what is happening, help them through withdrawal or get their loved one to and through rehab, and sometimes it is successful.

In other cases, though, the drug abusing friend doesn’t use this help and instead starts lying and hiding the drug use, or withdrawing from the friendship altogether. Eventually, the friends who just wanted to help start withdrawing too, no longer feeling sympathetic but rather angry, upset or betrayed.

As the once valuable friendships start to disappear, the addict usually finds new ‘friends’ to replace those lost. Unfortunately, the new social circle only adds to the downward spiral. It is just another one of the all too common side effects of drug use that we see every day.

Rehab

One remarkable outcome that is often seen after thorough rehabilitation, is these old relationships rekindling. Those that left, start to see their old friend coming back again, one that can be trusted, and one who they want to be around again.

Once an addict realises that they were not the victim, but rather their actions were responsible for the loss of their friends, amongst other things, it is a chance to truly heal the lost relationships, and regain a valuable set of friends, those who will do their best to help the addict through the sometimes difficult recovery stage.

For more information on how our rehabilitation programme may be able to help you or your friends contact us.