The first step in making the decision to get married after rehab is evaluating your readiness. It is important to be honest with yourself about whether you are truly ready for such a commitment. Are you able to handle the stress that comes with marriage?
The Silent Partner: Functional Alcoholism
When one partner in a marriage is battling addiction, the relationship can suffer greatly as a result. The effects of addiction on a marriage can be devastating and often lead to divorce or separation. In fact, marriages where one or both partners struggle with addiction are twice as likely to end in divorce than those without this issue. With Bill’s sobriety, the quality of our relationship improved enough for us to marry.
Addiction Recovery, It’s For The Whole Family
- So while I taught local girls during the day, he stayed home and tried to figure out what to do with himself.
- When you and your spouse receive couples therapy for drug addiction together, you can address your individual issues and work together on the underlying problems.
- Recovery from substance use disorder can cause many changes in your marriage — not all of them positive.
- Binge drinking, on the other hand, is defined as drinking to the point of intoxication, often leading to risky behavior but doesn’t necessarily mean the person has AUD.
- Seek couples counseling to learn communication strategies, address underlying issues in the relationship, and begin to heal your marriage.
- These groups also offer tools for coping with triggers that could lead to relapse.
This approach paves the way forward together on a journey of healing. Live in Arizona and need to find an accredited treatment program? Check out our list of affordable programs that can help your loved one to get sober and help your family to heal from addiction. When your loved one was in active addiction, it’s likely that part of your identity was based on their addiction. A lot of your life revolved around worrying about them, trying to get them to change, and taking on their responsibilities around the home.
SUPRs — Illinois’s State-Funded Program for First-Time Rehab Patients
The patterns and interactions that were established during addiction are basically obliterated. A husband who used to stay out late drinking will now be spending much more time at home. A wife previously addicted to painkillers to numb difficult emotions or situations will now have marriage changes after sobriety to deal with them head-on, without the aid of substances. Codependent behaviors that used to be the norm are disrupted as couples stop playing the roles of addict and enabler and have to find their way back to the roles of spouses. Finally, trust between couples may have been broken during addiction if a partner lied about substance abuse and the process to rebuild it may not always be smooth.
I’m Sober and My Spouse Is Not: Will Our Marriage Work?
A great way to support them in their recovery is to be proactive and research fun sober activities that you can enjoy together. That way they will feel less like a burden and more like a partner in a loving, supportive relationship. As the partner of an addict in recovery, it is important for you to recognize whether their recovery is going well and decide if you can handle the burden without help. For some addicts, drug addiction the support of family and loved ones is enough to get through early recovery and into a sober life. If your partner is severely addicted or has failed to get sober in the past, it may be necessary to explore treatment options, like Gratitude Lodge.
- Secretly, the spouse may fear not being needed, and worry, “Will I be enough to be loved?
- My partner went to treatment shortly after we started living together.