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Last Updated on August 8, 2021
No marriage is perfect. Everyone goes through troubled times. It’s essential not to give up and work to make repairs and strengthen your relationship. Some problems require professional help. If you and your spouse are struggling with addiction, it may be beneficial to check into a couple’s rehab.
Through Good Times and the Bad
Detox and rehab aren’t easy. Couples in a committed relationship that admit they both have a substance misuse problem should take this first step together. Going through the process, one can strengthen their marriage. Never forget your vows.
“ “I, _____, take you, _____, for my lawful wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. I will love and honor you all the days of my life.”
Honor your wedding vows and work to strengthen your relationship by seeking drug and alcohol treatment as one.
Attending Group Therapy as a Couple
Another way rehab can strengthen your marriage is by interacting in a structured environment with other couples experiencing the same core problem—Alcohol and drug addiction. During these sessions, you’ll see spouses struggling and improving at different steps along the road to recovery.
Couples can learn much from one another about different problems that can arise and how to handle them, and sometimes, how not to handle them. Additionally, the group setting allows couples to interact with each other and ask questions in a controlled environment. The group’s counselors will lead the conversation and monitor and encourage interactions. But they’ll also allow the discussions to take their own direction as long as they’re productive.
Learning to Enjoy New Activities Drug-Free, Together
It’s important to try new sober activities to learn how to live drug-free with each other and the rest of their family. Boredom can lead to cravings of your old lifestyle and cause fights that may destabilize your relationship.
Here are some ideas to good, clean, fun at any age:
- Go to a movie and enjoy buttery popcorn and sugary drinks
- Take a community college course and learn something new together
- Visit museums and nearby cultural centers
- Join a community sports team or take a fitness class
- Learn new recipes
- Enjoy the great outdoors—See the national parks, go hiking, skiing, mountain biking, or birdwatching
- Start a home project that you’ll both love, such as adding that hot tub, upgrading the kitchen, and building her she-shed or his man cave
As you replace the old routines that involved drug and alcohol use, it’s essential to build new, healthy relationships with each other and the family and friends in your life that don’t have substance misuse issues. There will be times when both you and your spouse will be tempted to go back to these activities, often convinced that these interactions won’t cause cravings or lead to old habits. It’s essential to reach out to your support groups instead.
Start a New Habit: Attend 12-Step Meetings as a Couple
No matter what stage of recovery you’re in, a 12-step program is an essential part of your support. Encourage each other to go to regular meetings. Even if you attend different sessions, you can still push each other to go every day, every other day, or once or twice weekly. Use the time apart to grow stronger together.
Work Together to Prevent Relapse
When you go through drug and alcohol treatment together, you can create a support group that strengthens your relationship. Couples that talk to each other and admit when they’re struggling can better navigate the storms that come with addiction.
If either of you is struggling, you may need additional help, and that’s okay. Recovery is a long road with twists and turns and some backsteps. The most crucial step is to seek assistance from your spouse or others in your support network.
A couples rehab center may help you stop fighting each other and start fighting addiction together. Consider starting your road to recover as a united front and save your lives and relationship. Call our helpline today to begin your journey to sober living.
