Recent study shows how drug addiction affects family and friends

Published on Thursday October 30, 2014, Standard Examiner Drug abuse and addiction almost always affects more people than the user alone. Drug addiction is a complex disorder that can involve virtually every aspect of an individual’s functioning—in the family, at work and school, and in the community, according to drugabuse.gov. When one family member is suffering from a drug addiction, the entire family suffers as well. Those close to the addict often feel stressed, overwhelmed or wonder what they can do to help. It is extremely difficult for them to watch their loved one succumb to addiction. To get an idea of how family and friends of drug addicts cope, Rehabs.com analyzed many drug addiction forums. The study is called Collateral Damage. It focused on the top addiction-related online forums. Their goal was to find out what friends and family of addicts are saying in order to seek support for their loved ones. “Like I am in jail“ or “I just don’t know how” or “want to give up on him” Friends and family members are reaching out to the these drug addiction forums, hoping to find the help that they need. For the study, Rehabs.com specifically focused on the “family and friends” section. They looked at the most common type of person who posts, the most mentioned drugs, the most common post titles and the most common post phrases. “We found that alcohol and heroin were the two most mentioned substances,” explained Cash Lambert, who is part of the creative team at Rehabs.com. “Women are by far the most common posters (over 75%) while men (such as fathers, husbands, boyfriends, etc.) account for less than 10 percent.” Other terms that were found on the addiction forums included, “married for years”, “the wife of a crack addict”, and “I just don’t know what to do”. You can see more terms and results on Rehabs.com.