People usually understand the harmful effects of addiction since they see how it controls and hurts people. However, people don’t always understand how addiction can affect a household and its members. Since a person with addiction doesn’t always make the best decisions, their choices can impact others.
Whether you struggle with addiction or have someone in your household who struggles with it, you must understand the effects. Doing so will help you work past your addiction and help those who suffer from it. Otherwise, you may not realize how addiction affects the home, making you less inclined to change or seek ways to overcome addiction.
Understanding How Addiction Affects People
Before changing addiction in yourself or others, you must understand how it affects people. Addiction causes changes in people, leading them to make choices that affect others. The effects of addiction can impact a single person in multiple ways, such as the ones listed below.
- They spend money on their addiction.
- They become irritable and face mood swings when they suffer from withdrawals.
- They make addiction their priority.
Unfortunately, addiction causes people to prioritize the substance. When that happens, they sometimes overlook necessary expenses to get their next high or buzz from the substance. If they don’t have access to the substance, their mood swings can also lead to consequences and problems.
How Addiction Can Affect a Household
Now that you understand how addiction affects people, you can connect those points to households. As a person lives with someone who faces addiction, they also deal with side effects and issues. Make sure you understand what they go through so you know how to help a family in that situation.
Overlooking or Ignoring Others
Some people focus on their addiction and overlook their family members and those they care about. They want to scratch that itch and receive dopamine through their addictions, so they sometimes prioritize that over others. For example, they may get high or drink instead of spending time with family members.
Such an approach can harm young family members. For example, the parent could end up drinking or smoking instead of spending time with that family member. They then don’t build relationships with them and can even damage their previous relationships. They may end up ignoring others when they turn towards their addictions, leading to severe consequences for the whole household.
Making People Feel Unsafe
Depending on how the person acts while intoxicated, they could make other family members feel unsafe. For example, some people become violent when they drink alcohol, so they may lose control and hurt others. On the other hand, some people may become moody and mean when they don’t have access to drugs or alcohol.
Different addictions can also cause people to change and do dangerous things. For example, if someone becomes addicted to eating unhealthy foods, they could encourage family members to do the same. The same applies to alcohol and drugs since the addicted person could influence their family members and get them to become addicted as well.
Causing Financial Challenges
People also spend more money on their addictions to use the substance. For example, they may spend money on cigarettes rather than groceries, so the household doesn’t have as much food. The same can apply to other essential purchases, such as paying the rent, covering bills and even purchasing items for other family members.
Since many substances, such as alcohol and drugs, cost tons of money, people can place themselves in financially difficult situations. If their family members rely on them for financial support, the addicted person can cause problems for everyone. Such an approach can put the family in a dangerous situation where they struggle to survive and live.
Addiction severely impacts households, so you must avoid it when possible. Even if you don’t have an addiction, you should do what you can to help anyone in your household who faces addiction. If you don’t know where to get help or how to help someone who struggles with addiction, you can call us at 833.970.2054 for some assistance.
