FAQs: Nar-Anon Offers Hope
What is Nar-Anon
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Have you tried everything you can think of to change the addict and nothing seems to work? Don’t give up. There is hope. You are at a turning point. If you would like your life to be different, Nar-Anon can offer you a better way to live. You will meet people at Nar-Anon meetings who understand your frustration.
How can Nar-Anon help me?
Nar-Anon is intended for parents, spouses, children, siblings, and friends of addicts. Nar-Anon can provide new insights to help with our attitudes, behaviors, and emotions. We can regain our own sanity and well-being.
Why do I need help due to someone else’s addiction?
We who care the most suffer from the addict’s erratic behavior. Soon, we begin to think we are to blame and assume the guilt, fears, and responsibilities of the addict. Thus, we become sick, too.
What will I find at Nar-Anon?
You will find love, understanding, and hope in the Nar-Anon Family Group. People in the group may be experiencing, in varying degrees, the same hurt, anger and anxieties you may be feeling. We come to Nar-Anon because we are burdened with responsibilities and feel we are alone. We come here to change the behavior of the addict but soon find that is it our own thinking and attitude that must be changed if we are to have relief. We find people in Nar-Anon who understand what we are going through and are ready to share their experience, strength, and hope to help us.
What can I expect if I keep going to meetings?
Nar-Anon Family Group meetings, with the twelve steps, and twelve traditions offer a new way to live. You will learn how to change your own thinking and attitude about the addict - about life.
Is my changed attitude going to make any difference?
Addiction is a family disease. It affects everyone who is close to the addict. Most of us believe the addict is the one who needs to change. It comes as a shock to hear we need to change. It is time to look at ourselves.
By working the steps, following the traditions and using the tools of the program, we begin, with the love and help of our Higher Power and others, to change ourselves.
Reprinted from "Nar-Anon Offers Hope" Outreach Pamphlet #O-406.
Copyright 2014 Nar-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. Used with permission.