If you have become involved in drugs, are thinking about it, or are facing pressure from others to try illegal or dangerous drugs, you may be wondering how it can hurt your family. Families are nearly always harmed if not devastated when a member becomes a drug user or addict.
One of the most concrete ways that drug use harms your family is through finances. You might not think it’s possible now, but people who take drugs and need to get another fix will go to extraordinary lengths to get it. That means if they need money – and a drug habit costs a lot of money – they will even go so far as to steal directly from their loved ones to purchase what they need.
More than that, your family might get you into a rehabilitation program, but they might have to risk all their assets to do it. It is not uncommon for families of drug users to take out additional mortgages on their houses, drain their life savings, or sacrifice college funds and other essential finances to buy treatment. This kind of impact can completely crush your family’s financial future, but it doesn’t end there. Beyond the practical and emotional toll that finances take, there are many other ways drug use can harm your family and relationships.
Drugs and Addiction Erode Your Relationships and Directly Hurt Family Members
When you are taking drugs, often your behavior will change in ways that are beyond your control. You can become subject to mood swings, paranoia, and even periods of rage. You may lash out either verbally or physically at family members or other people in ways that embarrass and stress your family.
Family members will witness these changes and may experience much anxiety or depression as they worry about you. They may even become afraid of you if your behavior becomes too erratic. You might act in a rebellious and defiant manner so that many interactions become a source of pain and distress for those around you.
How You Treat Others Changes
When you are taking addictive or harmful drugs, they will quickly come to seem more important to you than a lot of other things in your life. Because you have developed a biological dependence on a substance, you will be driven to sacrifice almost everything else to satisfy that need.
Thus, your habits will change, and the extent that you value your relationships and strive to keep them up will lessen. You might lose interest in other people, in work, in school, and in activities you previously enjoyed. In doing so, you withdraw from others and neglect them as well as your responsibilities. This neglect will not go unnoticed as the people you love will suffer from your apparent decreased interest in them.
Your Ability to Help Your Family Diminishes
If your family depends on you in any way, shape, or form, you put them at risk by getting involved with drugs. Your behavior could lead to problems at work, which could ultimately result in unemployment. If you usually contribute an income, your family may suddenly find themselves struggling to make ends meet. Even worse, they could lose benefits associated with your job like health insurance. This problem may compound if you suffer health complications due to taking drugs and need expensive health care.
Aside from employment, your emotional unavailability will decrease your ability to help your family in most other ways. You will no longer be a source of personal support for family members and could cease doing things they once relied on you to do like chores, household upkeep, or paying bills. In general, your family will spend much of their energy focused on you, helping you, and dealing with you so that their own needs will, in all likelihood, become of secondary concern. That is, if they can pay attention to their needs at all.
In conclusion, it is easy to see how the effect that using drugs has on a person ripples outward into an almost infinite number of related problems. Every one of these has an impact on one’s family. Their concern for you, your treatment of them, the possibility of physical violence, and the probability of financial ruin are all ways that drugs can hurt your family. The good news is that you can always get help, no matter how long you have had a problem or how dire the circumstances are. We have professionals who are on standby and ready to help 24/7. Please call 302-842-2390 for assistance.
