Has your friend been skipping work or shirking their responsibilities? Have they been more irritable, gotten in trouble with the law, or seem to be in financial trouble?

If any of these signs sound familiar, your friend may be struggling with addiction. Making sure they receive the help they need isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary to ensure they live a healthy and drug-free life.

Are your unsure what steps should be taking when helping a friend with addiction? Keep reading to learn what you can do.

Research Addiction

Before you confront your friend about addiction, it’s important you know a little about it.

Understanding what they are going through and what is happening to their brain because of drugs can help you approach the topic better. If your friend senses a disbelieving tone in your voice when they start to open up, they’ll likely immediately shut back down.

Explain Your Concerns

Once you’ve read up on addiction, it’s time to confront your friend. You could do this one-on-one or organize an intervention with several loved ones.

It’s important to express your concerns without guilt tripping or talking down to them. Although it may not feel like it, you still know your friend really well. So, make sure you use an angle they care about, such as they hurt they’ve caused their loved ones.

Give Specific Examples

Has your friend become erratic or irritable? This may have caused a lot of problems between the two of you. Use these to convince your friend of their problem.

Hearing “you’ve become more irritable” isn’t as impactful as hearing a specific example of how they’ve changed. Remind them of times when their actions affected you or when they got into a lot of trouble because of drugs. This is the best way to get through to them and help them realize the impact of drugs.

Offer Support

Fighting addiction isn’t easy. Your friend will be going through a lot of rough times, and they likely know it.

Let them know that you love them and just want to help. Make sure they know that they won’t be going through withdrawal and rehab alone. They will have a support system to lean on.

Have Treatment Options Ready

After your talk, your friend will be in a very delicate position. You don’t want to just talk to them and be done. You also want to help them act.

Research treatment options in your area and present them to your friend. Offer to go over the options with them and talk about the best way for them to get help. You could even offer to give them a ride to rehab or a safe place to stay when they get out.

Helping a Friend with Addiction

When you suspect your friend is struggling with addiction, helping them can be difficult. You want to make sure you say and do the right things, so they are receptive to your message. Just follow these tips on helping a friend with an addiction, so they can get and stay sober.

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