How To Talk To Your Siblings About Alcohol Addiction And Rehabilitation
If you have to go to rehabilitation and have younger siblings that don't really understand your erratic behavior or are sad to see you go, you might want to do something to explain to them what is going on. However, they might be too young to fully understand addiction and how a person gets better from addiction. Here are some ways that you can explain alcohol addiction and rehabilitation to your younger siblings so that they won't worry about you.
1. Frame Your Addiction as Being Sick
The first thing that you need to do is put your addiction in terms that your younger siblings can understand. You can do this by talking about addiction as an illness. Talk about how when they're sick, their germs don't want the medication that their mom is giving them. Talk about how addiction is a little bit like the germs, but the germs won't stop drinking the medication. Talk about how every time you take a drink, you get more sick, but even when you stop drinking you get sick. This should impress upon your siblings the severity of the problem but also frame it in a way that they feel like they can understand, which will allow them to feel a little bit more control.
2. Frame Rehabilitation as Taking the Bad Medicine Away
The next thing that you do is explain where you are going. You might be able to get away with telling your siblings that you are going to a hospital to get better, but they might worry that the hospital is going to give you more medicine that is going to make you sicker.
If you get this followup worry after you tell your siblings that you are going to go to the hospital to get well, you can then say that rehabilitation is a special type of medication where they take away the medicine that is making you feel more sick and help you feel better. This should help reassure your siblings.
3. Choose the Right Venue
Try to talk to your siblings about this in a way that makes them feel important, as though their ideas and opinion are valued. Take them out to lunch or cook them a simple meal and talk about it with them. This will let them feel heard enough to voice concerns and get their concerns answered. This will reduce worrying in the long term.
For more information, talk to a company that specializes in rehabilitation for alcohol addiction.
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