What should I do if my friend is addicted?

We should get panic in such a situation. First, we need to understand what we should not to do. We should not normalize the situation for sure and we need to no realize that there are problems coming from the personal life of addicted and his/her family. Exclusion or a total inclusion both do not help us about the solution. We should guide the addicted to consult an expert if possible. If we know your friends’ family, we need to let his/her family learn about addiction. If you have concerns about the relationship between you and your friend may end, then you need to persuade your friend for a professional consultant subconsciously. Consultant can be a psychologist, psychiatrist or more professional such as AMATEM and ÇAMATEM. Other than this if there are problems in the family, a family therapy should be considered.

We should support our friends when the problems might be solved through our relation. But I want to emphasize that if we have doubts about our support in this process and if we influenced from our addicted friend, we should not try to be a hero for him/her. Because addicted people are popular and influential and that’s apply to your friendship also. This may lead to us being affected from addicted or even being addicted while trying to help him/her. We heard about this in during our interviews. Some said that they started to take drugs when they were trying to help their friends or they started to take drugs when they hanged out with his/her friends of the addicted. That is the reason why I think collaboration with a professional consultant on the matters of decisions about quitting and how to continue life is a must.