Is Addiction Taking Your Family Hostage?
While there is a widely accepted genetic link to addiction, many are unaware of all the research available on how the disease of addiction is unknowingly being enabled by the family. That data clearly shows that family dynamics also play a significant role in active substance abuse. In other words, it takes an ongoing process of both the addict and the family unit interacting in unhealthy ways to maintain the addictive behavior.
That is why I believe so strongly in professional Family Counseling as a part of the process of recovery from alcoholism and drug abuse. Below are some hypotheses that guide my practical applications when working with individuals and families where addiction is a presenting problem in my practice. Guiding assumptions for my family addiction counseling include:
Addiction creates anger, resentment, anxiety and even feelings of “craziness” in the family system
Family relationships are damaged, and in some cases even broken while addiction holds the family hostage
The family is at war with the substance that is being abused, and NOT the person abusing the substance
The stress of the addiction in the family overwhelms the family system introducing dysfunctional behavior patterns, which can be overcome with the best practice family therapy
The family unit possesses an innate resilience that can be activated to overcome addiction by learning new behaviors, thus removing the addiction process from the family system
WHY IS FAMILY ADDICTION COUNSELING SO IMPORTANT TO SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY?
Motivates your loved one to break out of denial, seek appropriate treatment and build a supportive environment that includes the family and other individuals outside the family.
Two years ago, I began working with a family that had an adult daughter who had allowed alcohol to cost them several jobs and was on the verge of destroying relationships with their family. Once the family therapy process began it took only two sessions to motivate them to seek addiction treatment. Once the denial was broken, they sought treatment and now just celebrated a year and a half clean and sober. It was the combined assertiveness of the family that broke the denial and created motivation for the person to seek treatment.
Educates the entire family about relapse prevention skills to head off relapse once a loved one is in recovery.
A few years ago, I worked with a family who had a middle-age woman chronically addicted to alcohol. Her entire support system was made up of drinking buddies that she played golf with several times a week. She agreed soon after her family intervened to attend primary treatment.
The family was highly motivated to help her maintain her sobriety. So much so that they all allowed me to teach them about relapse prevention in detail. I truly believe that without the support of a family armed with relapse prevention knowledge, this individual probably would’ve relapsed like so many others soon after completing primary treatment.
Codependent and enabling behaviors are identified and families are taught how to set healthy boundaries.