So you have a loved one coming home from the hospital. They are coming back from a difficult battle with drugs and alcohol. You are happy to see them coming home but you are also worried about their progress once they get home. As an outside observer you can understand that many problems they face trying to get sober from inside there own life. You see the pitfalls and you are worried they will do something that they end up regretting. Could it be that you are part of the problem?

It’s a tough thing to think of. It’s tough to think that you could even be thought to be part of the problem but the truth of it is that there are more than a few enablers in an addicts life. Many assume that the enablers are those that will do drugs with them or go buy drugs for them. While these are certainly tell tale signs of an enabler it doesn’t make it the only kind of enabler in the world.

Any enabler is anyone who will do anything that might impede someones quest to remain free and sober. While the ultimate blame does and will always fall on the addicts themselves that doesn’t mean at all that there isn’t blame to be passed around to the rest of the family, or those that would make it easier for a loved one to do drugs.

The biggest sign of an enabler is they are too willing to listen to an addicts reasoning. They will accept the reasons why an addict has a relapse or is caught using regularly again. They mistake unconditional love and figure that undying support equals unconditional love when it is often the vehicle to enable. Watch these signs in yourself and figure out if you are part of the problem.