Supporting a Loved One Struggling With Addiction Without Losing Yourself

Supporting a Loved One With Addiction

When someone you love is struggling with addiction, it can feel like their pain becomes your pain. You want to help, but it is easy to lose yourself in the process. Finding the balance between care and self-preservation is essential.

What Support Looks Like

• Compassion, not control: You cannot force recovery, but you can show care.

• Boundaries matter: Saying “no” is not rejection. It is protection for both of you.

• Encourage professional help: Therapy, treatment programs, and support groups are important resources.

What Support Is Not

• Enabling: Covering up, lending money, or rescuing from consequences often fuels addiction.

• Self-Sacrifice: Ignoring your own needs while trying to save someone else leads to burnout.

Taking Care of Yourself

• Join support groups such as Al-Anon or Nar-Anon.

• Seek your own therapy or self-care.

• Remember that your well-being is just as important as your loved one’s recovery.

Closing

Loving someone with addiction is not easy. But you do not need to lose yourself while supporting them. Boundaries and compassion can work together, and both are needed for true healing.