My husband loves people, he’s a people person and thrives of intimate human connection. When he stopped using substances (and is not in his ‘life of the party mode’) he’s found it hard to connect with people. He gets major social anxiety now. This is certainly an area of growth for him. But since connection is the opposite of addiction it’s quite dangerous to have the effect of not using substances be tied to social isolation.
@erica helped me unpack my husband’s recent relapse a bit. She said something that stuck with me - “sounds like your husband doesn’t have too many friends he hangs out with nor makes an effort to socialize and build those connections, perhaps that’s a focus?”
Maybe there’s a way we can help engage those around our loved one to play more of a role so that the responsibility for social connection doesn’t rest on our shoulders only and so they have more connections.
I’m super interested if others have noticed this in their loved ones.