Will Outpatient Alcohol Treatment Heal My Relationships?

<p>One of the most challenging problems associated with alcoholism is the havoc it wreaks upon our relationships. It wrecks marriages and families, plus can sever bonds between the closest of friends. It would be fantastic if all our personal relationships could be magically healed with a treatment program.</p>
<p>That is simply not reality. However, accepting that you have a problem and seeking help through an alcohol treatment program can help to repair gradually what has been broken the most, your relationships. Here are some things to consider as you consider the effect entering treatment may have on your broken relationships.</p>
<h2>Your Family</h2>
<p>One of the most vital relationships for most alcoholics is the one we have with our family. This could be a husband, wife, children, mother, father or siblings. The devastation that alcoholism causes often spreads even deeper into family ties. A reason why these relationships can become so damaged is because of their inherent closeness.</p>
<p>Those closest to us, watching as we destroy ourselves with alcohol, often suffer the most. It can be virtually impossible to turn your back on someone you love so dearly. Family members are torn between exerting hard love and the painful reality of continuing to watch you drink yourself to death.</p>
<p>Entering treatment may not immediately bring every family back to your side with open arms. However, you can begin to help remove the excruciatingly painful burden your family endures as they watch helplessly as you spiral further into your disease.</p>
<p>Keep in mind some key principles when healing family relationships broken by alcoholism. The time required to heal for each person will be different. In addition, each person has the right to heal on their own timeline and in their own way.</p>
<p>You cannot force the process. However, taking that first step in recovery by entering a treatment program is monumental. When your desire to live a clean and sober life is genuine, your family will come to realize this. Then, you will see relationships with family begin to heal.</p>
<h2>Your Friends and Acquaintances</h2>
<p>Thousands of alcoholics have searched for friendship at the bottom of a bottle. The types and sincerity of our friendships have been questionable at best. Stories abound about the vanishing friendships that happen when we decide to live a sober life.</p>
<p>What happens to most of us who choose sobriety is that we discover true friendships and begin to build stable relationships. Entering treatment will be the all-important first step in mending all of your relationships.</p>
<p>This could be with significant others or simply friends who may have been hurt by your actions when drinking. These friend and acquaintance relationships may also include employers. While your boss may not be your best friend, there certainly may be a cause to heal a relationship.</p>
<p>Just like your relationships with family, friends, employers and casual acquaintances will heal in their own time. Some people may never forgive you. Don’t despair, because most people will eventually judge you by your actions. Give relationships with friends’ time to heal. Start the process by accepting there is a problem and getting help.</p>
<h2>Yourself</h2>
<p>Many alcoholics might be initially puzzled by this last potentially broken relationship. Caught up in the web of alcoholism, we may not even realize how much damage we’ve done to our relationship with ourselves.</p>
<p>When you enter a treatment program to begin your journey in recovery, you will find this to be the most important broken relationship you need to heal. As you once again learn to love and respect yourself, only then will you be able to mend relationships with family and friends.</p>
<p>Healing relationships is a part of recovery. You will need to be patient with the process. The only actual relationship you have any control over is the one you rekindle with yourself. You will need to allow others to heal on their own timeline.</p>
<p>There is only one guarantee when healing relationships. If you continue down the road of destruction that you’re on, the likelihood they will ever heal is virtually nonexistent. However, the first step is to accept that there is a problem. You take that vital first step when you begin treatment.</p>
<p>Once you make the call and ask for help, you will begin healing relationships through your actions. You have to begin by healing the relationship with yourself, then and only then will every relationship in your life have a chance to heal. Get help today, because your relationships and your life depend on it.</p>