Our natural human instinct is to try to help when we see people in pain. Especially when that pain is addiction and the consequences are starting to build.

Kolmac Integrated Behavioral Health Center Counselor Rennie Grant (Roc) and Psychiatrist Dr. Tony Massey (Doc) answer your questions about addiction and recovery.

As much as every addict wants to believe that they aren’t “hurting anyone but themselves,” we all know that this idea is often false. The consequences of addiction are far reaching, affecting families, jobs, health, finances, friendships, and, on a larger scale, society as a whole.

So what do you do when your loved one is showing signs of addiction and you as a bystander are beginning to experience the collateral damage of addiction’s ruthless reach?

Our basic human tendency is to help. But all too often our idea of help is love that’s not tough and that ultimately prolongs the pain and increases the consequences. This is commonly called enabling.   

So where is the line? When is my help no longer really help, but instead, assisting the addicted person along in their personal destruction? This and other issues are addressed in this episode of Roc & Doc.

Rennie G (Roc) shares a bit of his story. When he was in the throes of addiction, it was common for him to disappear for days on benders. As long as he was enabled (through the well-intentioned efforts to “help” by his loved ones) he was able to continue on in his addiction. Sure, to the untrained eye, those who loved him were trying to be compassionate. But those who know the insidious nature of addiction know that such attempts at compassion are often perpetuating the problem.

Sometimes drastic measures are needed. Measures that seem counterintuitive — like kicking a person out of the home as a measured ultimatum to persuade them to go into treatment.  

See more episodes of Roc & Doc on their page here.