How to Help a Heroin Addict Who Doesn’t Want Help
Signs Someone You Love Is a Heroin Addict
There are several ways to help someone with an addiction to heroin, even when they don’t want your assistance. Everyone is affected differently regarding addictive substances, whether it’s an illegal drug or something like prescription opioids. Whether it’s help from loved ones or professionals at a drug treatment facility, everyone needs abuse and addiction assistance specific to them. This can be based on many factors, including what addictive substances a person has been abusing, whether they have been through withdrawal and detox before, if they have any co-occurring disorders, referred to as a dual diagnosis which can be depression or even an eating disorder, and how long they have been struggling with abuse and addiction. If you’d like to know about the different ways to help a drug addict, give us a call. We can go over strategies and scenarios that have helped our previous clients get into addiction treatment and how they can work for you.
Someone struggling with heroin abuse will often not want anyone to know and try to hide the effects of the addiction they are experiencing. This is especially true for keeping the impact of heroin from their loved ones. One of the symptoms of heroin use is an individual seeking an outlet from a stressful situation, like a job loss, death in the family, or other traumatic events. Some signs that abuse has transitioned into heroin addiction are a lack of attention to personal grooming, use of street names or slang, behavioral changes such as ignoring relationships, and financial problems as the cost of illegal drug purchases mounts.
What Happens When Someone Doesn’t Want Help?
When you’re trying to figure out how to help a friend struggling with anything from alcohol abuse to addiction to heroin, you may hit many walls. The person will have many excuses for using heroin or prescription opioids. They will also often tell you that they have their drug and alcohol use under control and do not need heroin treatment. In these cases, start by continuing to be their friend. Turning your back on them is most likely not getting them into substance abuse treatment and rehab. Do not threaten them regarding their drug abuse. This is a poor way to try and get them into drug and alcohol addiction therapy and can easily backfire and cause them to withdraw or even use more, resulting in a heroin overdose. Stay supportive and consult an expert, like our highly trained inpatient treatment and outpatient rehab professionals at Nova Detox.
How to Help a Heroin Addict
If you’re not a medical or behavioral health professional, it’s hard to know how to help a drug-addicted person. Here are a few ways to help get them into substance abuse treatment and rehab: Learn all you can about how heroin addiction works. This will help you see the symptoms of heroin use and when they may have stopped and gone into heroin withdrawal. You can also hold a drug intervention meeting with them. We strongly suggest you engage with a facilitator who knows a lot about heroin abuse. Identify inpatient rehab treatment programs in your area to have specific suggestions on how to proceed if they seem willing to get help.
Following Through With Support
Don’t give up. Your first attempt at helping someone get into treatment for heroin may fail, and your second attempt to get them into drug abuse inpatient treatment may fail. Keep giving them support and let them know you want the best for them, and you will assist them in getting on track and into one of the available treatment programs near you.
Heroin Addiction Treatment at Novo Detox
At Novo Detox, we have several levels of care that are options for all of our clients. We provide withdrawal and detox programs, residential rehab, outpatient rehab, Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP), Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP), and Telehealth/Virtual Care. Call us at (844) 834-1777 today to discuss how to help a drug addict who doesn’t want help. We’re here to assist you in getting them on the road to recovery.
