Death of a loved one due to drug addiction in families or relatives results in lots of pain and grief. However, helping someone who is experiencing the loss of a loved one due to drug-related addiction is very complicated.
Initially, you should consider that there are both delightful and traumatic memories coming from both positive and negative experiences with the death of a loved one.
Adverse experiences include seeing the loved one drunk or violent, financial issues affecting the family, history of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, struggles with other relationships, among others. Death of a loved one from drugs at a young and healthy age is particularly painful.
Regardless of the consequences, the following are some ways you can help someone undergoing the grief of a loved due to drug addiction.
Listen and Be Present To Them
The best way to support a grieving person during the painful periods is by being physically present to ensure they don’t feel lonely. For instance, you can:
- Visit and spend time together with them
- Become available even on phone calls when you are not together
- Respond immediately to texts, emails, and any other form of communication
- Listen and give enough time for the bereaved people to express themselves while offering encouragement and comfort.
Listening also involves paying your full attention when bereaved people speak without interrupting anything they say, then responding compassionately to their concerns.
Be neutral Accept the Person’s Feelings
A person bereaved from the death of a loved one due to drug addiction is likely to have more complicated and contradictory feelings than other people. For instance, they may feel:
- freedom or relief that the addict will not overwhelm their life with abuse and unstable behaviors
- extreme gloom about how life could have been if the deceased had recovered from drug addiction
- guilt about the times they wished it could all be over
- someway responsible for generating the death of their loved one
All these feelings are normal and never wrong, and your approval will help the bereaved person to process them. Never judge or oppose a bereaved person no matter how difficult it is to stay neutral to them.
Encourage and Support Self Care
Depression and grief can, at times, hinder people from taking care of themselves properly. For instance, bereaved people can ignore getting regular sleep, consuming meals, performing an exercise, and other general activities.
They may also forget about their hygiene and keep their home looking clean and orderly. Therefore, it is helpful if you encourage and help them in a kind and considerate manner.
Recognize That Grief is a Process in the Death of a Loved One
Grief is a complicated process that involves various stages contradicting the emotions of the bereaved. People have different perceptions of death, and the period it takes for them to recover from the death of a loved one depends on their positive response to such conditions.
When you practice these support methods and allow the bereaved to undergo the process by themselves while taking good care of them, eventually, they will find peace and full restoration.
Drug addicts will learn from you, and it can also provide an avenue for them to stop drug addiction.
