When an individual leads an addicted lifestyle, the people that are affected the most are his loved ones. Typically, they would not see eye-to-eye on various issues because of their addiction problem. Due to the fact that people who are addicted are stigmatized, they would naturally be on the offensive side.
If the loved ones of an individual do not give their support to their addicted family member, there is a tendency that the addiction problem would become worse. In fact, the individual would not be encouraged to enter for addiction treatment because there is no support.
On the other hand, one of the fastest ways for an individual to successfully beat addiction, is the help of his loved ones. It is the responsibility to show love and care to their addicted family member, which would spur him to enter for treatment.
During addiction treatment, the loved ones still have a role to play. Bear in mind that, loved ones in this scenario refer to family and friends. This does not mean that other categories of people like acquaintances, co-workers and the likes are left out.
What happens is, family and friends are the closest groups of people that can encourage and spur an individual on to seek treatment. If these groups of people are absent, it would be difficult for anyone else to motivate the addicted individual to seek help.
When an individual enters for addiction treatment, the counselor helps to provide a platform where the loved ones can still play a pivotal role. For instance, the loved ones would be required to attend group therapy sessions, where they can learn more about addiction and how to care for their loved ones.
At the end of the day, when the individual is discharged from rehab, his loved ones have a crucial role to play in helping him settle down into the society. This stage is somewhat challenging because of the chances of relapse. But with proper care, the individual would do fine.