One of the best ways to help someone with an addiction disorder is to give your full support to healing. Keeping a positive attitude can be difficult, especially when someone has broken your trust. Negative comments and facial expressions, no matter how slight they are to you, can greatly affect the outlook of a person going through treatment. Your loved one will pick up on your attitude. A simple re-framing of your own outlook can help you help your loved one to recovery.
Begin by assessing what you think about the person in treatment. What qualities does he/she have? Why do you think these qualities are negative? Could these qualities actually help them? How can you direct those qualities toward healing? To help you get started, look at the examples in the Positive ReFrame cheat sheet below.
Most simply, be slow to criticize and fast to appreciate the efforts your loved one (and you!) is putting toward a healthier, happier lifestyle.
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