100 million Americans – 100 million! – are affected by a loved one’s alcohol or other drug (AOD) misuse. These are the moms, dads, husbands, wives, children, grandchildren, grandparents, boyfriends, girlfriends, and close friends.

AOD misuse ranges from routine binge drinking or heavy week-end drug use to dependence, commonly referred to as alcoholism or addiction. The impact on family and friends of a loved one’s misuse is profound and primarily the result of the chronic stress they are under in their battle to “help” their loved one stop the misuse.

I’m Lisa Frederiksen, founder of BreakingTheCycles.com, and I refer to this impact as secondhand drinking | secondhand drugging. As a family member in long-term recovery from my secondhand drinking impacts, my work is focused on helping the family reclaim their lives in the midst of their loved one’s substance misuse. One of the significant side benefits of the family getting help is their improved ability to better support their loved one seek and succeed in treatment and long term recovery.

Helping Families Understand Alcohol or Drug Abuse vs Alcoholism | Addiction

Often families and friends are at their wits end by the time they are visiting a site like this. Helping them understand what it is they may be dealing with (whether its substance abuse or addiction, for example) is a first step. To further your understanding and answer questions, I provide a variety of Family Consulting Services.

Armed with this knowledge, families and the person with the substance misuse problem are better able to let go of some of the blame, shame, denial and anger that gets in the way of moving forward or making next step-decisions. It can also serve as an intervention of sorts, and if the person with the substance abuse problem is present, it often prompts them to take next steps to address their drinking or drug abuse problem.

To get a better sense of how I use simplified brain and science-based research in my consulting sessions with individuals and families, you may want to read my latest book published in 2019 — not so I can sell books but so you can learn about the huge scientific advances that explains all of this in layman’s terms.

The first half covers alcohol use disorders (drinking problems) – how they’re developed and treated and what long-term recovery requires. In the case of alcohol abuse, for example, it’s possible to learn to “re-drink,” but in the case of alcoholism, it must be total abstinence from alcohol, yet in both cases, there are other brain healing aspects necessary in order to address “why” a person finds themselves drinking to these extents in the first place (e.g., trauma, anxiety, depression, social environment…).

The second half explains what happens to family members and friends and what they can do to help their loved ones, as well as what they can do to take back control of their physical and emotional health and the quality of their lives.

This is the link to the Amazon version. It comes in both paperback and Kindle (which can be read on an iPad or other eReader device). With the Kindle format, you’re able to get it immediately, which may be helpful for right now, and it allows you to read it without anyone knowing, which may also be helpful. It is also sold by other retailers and available in some libraries, as well.

To learn more, please send me an email at lisaf@BreakingTheCycles.com.