Drug rehab for couples is often a more complicated recovery than for an individual. Despite the relationship factors that could splinter any recovery achievement, if one partner hops off the wagon that could endanger sobriety for the other. After all, two addicts living in the same house will either both be sober or both be addicts. One addict using in front of the other will most likely topple the other’s sobriety.
Most likely, any couple suffering from addiction has built their relationship around drug use. As a result, the relationship dynamics play a predominant role in the recovery process. What if the relationship was formed around substance abuse and has survived under substance abuse? What if one partner is ready for recovery, but the other isn’t? Or, what if one partner becomes sober, but the other does not? What if one partner can not become sober, so strives to make sure the other does not? The complications of couples rehab are ginormous.
While drug rehab for couples is riddled with difficulty, it also has one shining advantage. No better source of confidence will come from a healthy relationship. No better encouragement will come from watching the other partner maintain sobriety. Let’s take a look at how addiction affects couples and how treatment can help couples who are struggling with addiction.
What the Statistics Says About Drug Rehab for Couples
According to a 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 24.6 million people are in a marriage where one of the spouses is facing an addiction. These marriages sadly end in divorce. 7.3% of all marriages end in divorce because of addiction. This is proof that substance abuse is one of the most consequential risk factors to a marriage.
The average age of an American that gets a divorce is 30. Incidentally, the highest rate of addiction affects those aged between 25 and 34. Addiction is the third most popular reason for women seeking a divorce. For men, addiction is the eighth most popular reason for divorce. Substance abuse was blamed for 34.6% of all divorces. Alcoholism can reduce sex drive as well as reduce fertility. Infertile couples are three times more likely to get a divorce.
Such divorces are usually the product of watching the other spouse spiral out of control due to drugs or alcohol. Oftentimes, the sober spouse will take it upon themselves to “save” the other spouse. While they might think of their actions as cavalier, sadly, it usually only enables the spouse to continue a self-destructive lifestyle.
How Addiction Affects a Relationship
Any person in a relationship with a substance abuser, or if they are the substance abuser themselves, must accept before anything, that addiction is a treatable disease. Too often, substance abusers consider sobriety an inevitable outcome. Usually, such logic comes as a justification to continue using. Millions of people have been cured of their addictions. To think such an outcome is impossible is only enabling an addict’s behavior.
A great example of how addiction affects drug rehab for couples is another narcotic term, dual diagnosis disorder. A dual diagnosis disorder occurs when a patient has addiction plus another mental disorder. For example, an individual may have both schizophrenia and addiction. So they go for treatment and get cured of their addiction. But the treatment center may not consider or help with the patient’s mental health disorders. As a result, when they are released, they may still suffer from the same mental illness, which may cause their addiction to resurface.
In the same breath, when both people in a relationship abuse drugs, they may not become sober unless the other partner is also sober. If both partners are substance abusers, most likely, the relationship is entirely structured around substance abuse. Much like a dual diagnosis disorder, if only one becomes sober and the other continues untreated, sobriety will never be achieved. The only outcome in this scenario is both become substance abusers again or they have a separation.
Drug Abuse in Relationships
Someone from the outside would assume that the most important thing for the couple, is that they both become sober. That assumption is probably correct. However, the endurance of the relationship is equally important. Depending on how severe the substance abuse is, it might be best for the partners to split ways or divorce. But nothing would benefit the individuals more in their road to sobriety than a healthy relationship.
As noted above, when a couple is both substance abusers who are debating how to gain sobriety, the ideal situation is that they both go through treatment together. Such a situation will only work if the relationship is strong. Most likely, if the couple consists of two substance abusers, the relationship is built around consuming drugs, the only event that the couple enjoys doing together.
Couples Rehab
Couples rehab is a certain sort of rehab offered to couples with strong relationships and who are both equally committed to becoming sober. According to American Addiction, drug rehab for couples may allow couples to attend treatment sessions and therapy together. Often, this provides support and motivation.
Couples addiction treatment provides knowledge, skills, guidance, and training to help partners through the barriers of substance abuse treatment. Couples undergoing couples rehab will participate in regular substance abuse treatment, but they’ll also work on strengthening their relationship. They will learn how to live and love once treatment is over.
Just as any person going through substance abuse rehab, they’ll learn how to avoid triggers and negative impulses that may cause them to use after treatment. Drug rehab for married couples must also focus on details of the relationship that may trigger drug or alcohol impulses. Where are the places that the couple would regularly consume their drug of choice? What sort of music does the couple associate with using their drug of choice? Are there favorable memories the two might have regarding their drugs of choice? What do these memories entail?
Behavioral Couples Therapy
Behavioral couples therapy is a form of drug rehab for couples. The purpose of behavioral couples therapy is to strengthen the couple’s relationship while also building support for sobriety.
Behavioral couples therapy usually consists of 12-20 weekly sessions. During this, the couples will learn how to improve their communication as well as fortifying their commitment to their relationship. Therapists will instruct the couples on how to listen, the gifts of random acts of kindness and to communicate the feelings necessary to achieve sobriety.
According to research, therapists often teach couples and can give them rewards for staying sober. The rewards may include:
- Congratulations of abstinence
- Ingesting daily medications reinforced by partner
- Sharing progress on a calendar
- Drug tests
- Attending substance-free organizations, such as Narcotics Anonymous
- Participating in activities, such as working out, that promoted sobriety
Behavioral Couples therapists will often write up contracts, negotiating such healthy activities, signed by both partners.
What Could My Partner and I Do Today to Be Sober Tomorrow?
If you and your partner are suffering from substance abuse, the first step to take is to contact a trusted rehab center like Coastal Detox. We offer countless resources that any person seeking sobriety can use. Included in these resources are helpful guides for individuals dealing with substance abuse in loved ones, as well as answers to any questions one might have regarding freeing themselves from addiction.
Coastal Detox offers one of the most professional rehab facilities in the country, that caters to every sort of substance abuse. For example, Coastal Detox offers specific detox programs for alcohol, heroin, opiate, Fentanyl, and other forms of addiction. Coastal Detox also offers a wide range of treatment programs, from Holistic Detox to treatment for first responders. If you and your partner are seeking substance abuse treatment, call Coastal Detox today.
