If your spouse is suffering from drug addiction, it's important to act quickly but carefully. If you don't, the addiction can tear apart your relationship and your family.

Before reaching out to help your loved one, it's important to understand a few things about drug addiction:

• Drug addiction can happen to anyone for any reason. People may use drugs to treat pain or relieve stress. Others may influence them to take drugs to be part of a clique.
• Substances affect people psychically and psychologically, causing them to act in often irrational ways. They become more abusive, irritable or depressed. The most important thing to them will no longer be caring for their own financial, emotional or physical well-being but instead to find the drugs as often as possible.
• Symptoms can vary, but the end result is always the same: Their life and the lives of those around them slowly disintegrate.

To properly care for a spouse who is addicted to drugs, you must take the proper protocols. In the first part of our two-part series, we explored four things you should do when caring for an addict. In the final part, we look at four things you should never do.

DON'T

1. Judge or assign blame

You should never accuse your partner or wallow in self-pity. It's important your loved one knows you're supporting him or her. Before offering a helping hand, you must first accept that addiction is a complex disease that affects all types of people in various ways.

2. Anticipate an easy process

Recovering from drug addiction is not easy. It's often an intensive process that involves a long-term strategy and many sessions with a professional. During these sessions, a doctor, such as those at Fairwinds Treatment Center, will take a dual diagnosis approach to understand the initial problem prior to treating it. They'll also lay out plans to avoid relapse.

3. Overlook your own needs

Heed this cautionary piece of advice: Helping an addict is incredibly draining. There have plenty of incidences where the supporter is dragged down as they lend a helping hand. This is extremely dangerous.

4. Expect things to go back to normal

It's important you and your spouse understand that, for better or worse, life is continuously evolving. Many times, that old way of life pushed your spouse to become addicted to drugs. So, it's not good practice to encourage him or her to live that way again. Instead of trying to live in the past, push forward to a happier and more healthy way of living.

If you know a person who is struggling with substance abuse, don't hesitate to call Fairwinds Treatment center. Under the leadership of Dr. M.K (Khal) El-Yousef, Fairwinds has grown into one of the country's leading centers in using dual diagnosis as a technique to treat individuals with addictive behaviors. Founded 25 years ago, the center's uses the dual diagnosis method to treat substance abuse patients. This method combines clinical treatments and therapeutic treatments to pin point the underlying cause of addiction and potential treatment methods.