If you’re considering seeking a divorce from an addicted spouse, you’re not alone. Behavioral Alcoholics Anonymous health treatment providers see the strain that addiction can have on a person’s most intimate relationships every day. Addiction can have harmful effects on relationships and strain marriages. If your spouse is addicted to drugs or alcohol, it’s important to determine whether divorce is the right option for you. Many substances cause withdrawal symptoms when a person stops using them.
- If a newly sober parent is wishing to re-claim visitation and have limitations lifted, that parent should provide a good history of negative test results, even if testing was not required.
- You can also help your spouse by committing to sober living with them.
- Specializing in diverse mental health challenges, including depression, addiction, and trauma, Christy embraces a person-centered approach.
The Effects of Alcohol on the Whole Body
- Substance abuse typically results in increasing problems with work performance, meeting responsibilities and maintaining relationships.
- Through couples counseling or family therapy, you and your spouse may be able to work through some of the challenges you both faced as a result of your spouse’s addiction.
- Let’s discuss more about the topic, including other relationships that are affected by addiction.
- The first step is to understand the physical and mental aspects that constitute being an alcoholic.
- People from all backgrounds and lifestyles can succumb to addiction, so it’s vital to know what signs to look for in your spouse.
Outpatient programs offer a less intensive but still effective treatment option for those with mild to moderate substance abuse disorders. After the terms of the settlement are determined in court, if the parties do not agree, then the judge will make a determination. If children are involved, a judge might give custody of the children to the spouse that is not suffering from an addiction. They even have the power to deny any visitation to the addicted parent. Whether a person is seeking treatment in an attempt to save their marriage or enrolling in a program after a divorce, recovery success hinges on finding the right program.
Sustained Recovery
Many spouses who abuse substances will go to great lengths to buy their substance of choice, sometimes spending money set aside for a necessary expense. It is also not uncommon for an addicted spouse to go into debt or sell possessions to get more money. When examining addiction and divorce statistics, it is easy to see how one spouse’s addiction can strain a marriage. Whether that addiction is to gambling, alcohol, or drugs, addiction and divorce is a serious matter.
How to Prove Your Partner is an Alcoholic
After years of going backwards once I divorce rates after sobriety stopped drinking, we are making progress and recovering our marriage. The lessons we learned are not gender specific, and the ebook is applicable for husbands of alcoholic wives in recovery, and same sex marriages as well. My wife, Sheri, and I, have recorded Untoxicated Podcast episodes about our relationship struggles, and they have both been downloaded over 400% more than our third top rated episode. Couples are hurting, and marriages are dying at the hands of this ferocious disease. Al-Anon is a great resource, but just like AA is not a good fit for everyone, couples need options in the ways they find help recovering their marriages from alcoholism.
If you are going through a divorce, you may wonder about the link between divorce and sobriety. Try not to enable their substance use behaviors, but also try to release expectations of perfection. It’s suggested that you’re careful of these behaviors, as they can lead to a codependent dynamic. That’s because codependency is a relationship trait and condition that’s independent of the substance use itself. In other words, it continues even when the substance use has stopped. But originally, it was created to describe the romantic partners (usually women, although we now know that men can become codependent as well) of people with SUD.
- No matter which of these categories you belong to, divorce can be an extremely painful process.
- Leaving a marriage where there is substance abuse is the only option for some spouses.
- Her expertise encompasses group and individual work, with a particular focus on trauma.