When someone is dealing with the cycle of addiction, it affects everything in and around that individual’s life. Of course, the individual is going to encounter issues with their health, employment, relationships, and personal finances. That’s the kind of information that the press reports on all the time. What we don’t hear much about is all the collateral damage a drug or alcohol addiction can cause for others.
It’s not hard to conclude that family members get the brunt of the collateral damage. While the addiction sufferer is dealing with their addictive behavior, it’s family members who are the first ones to realize there’s a problem. They are the ones who end up as codependents when they reach out and try to show support for their suffering loved ones. They are also the ones who get victimized by addictive behaviors such as violence and theft.
Here’s where these issues come to light. There’s plenty of drug and alcohol addiction treatment centers out there offering treatment services to addiction sufferers. What’s not very clear is what kind of services are being made available to the family members who are the victims of collateral damage.
Because it’s not a hot topic, people out in the communities of America are not aware there are treatment services available for family members who have an addiction sufferer in the family. We would like to use the following discussion to point out exactly what services are available for family members and friends.
What Resources Does a Drug Rehab Center Offer for Families of Addicts?
While the addiction sufferer is submitting to addiction treatment, family members and friends are surely pulling for their loved ones to find lasting recovery. Meanwhile, these same family members and friends have a responsibility to get help if they need it. Why would this be important?
At some point, family and friends should want/need to be in a position to serve as a support resource for their loved one who is going to need support after completing treatment. This is consistently the best chance a person in recovery has to avoid relapses.
With that in mind, most reputable addiction treatment centers, including ours, offer family group therapy sessions and individual therapy for family members.
Starting with family group therapy, this is the option that affords family members an opportunity to address issues within the family. Sometimes, these very issues can be a part of why addiction sufferer is acting out with addictive behavior. It’s also a great opportunity for loved ones and friends to gain a bit of understanding about their loved one’s addiction.
There’s no denying addiction has the ability to affect the family and the way it functions. Some family members lend the addiction sufferer blind support and become part of the problem through enabling. This phenomenon is referred to as codependency. Other family members will feel the disgust and disappointment of seeing a loved one throwing their life away with drugs or alcohol. These are the family members that will simply turn their back and walk away.
All of these are issues that can be dealt with in a family group therapy environment. When the issues get a little more personal, a family member or two might need some individual therapy. This is often the case with family members who become codependent. The codependency often proves to be destructive to both the addiction sufferer and the family member.
What happens with codependency is a very unhealthy dynamic evolves when a family member is enabling their loved one to abuse drugs or alcohol. The enabling serves as approval to continue the adverse behavior. In an individual therapy environment, the family member can learn the truth about their codependency and subsequently learn to take steps to preserve their own peace of mind regardless of what their addicted loved decides to do.
As you contemplate seeking treatment for your addiction, you might want to take a good look at what’s going on within your family unit. Remember, these are the people you want in your corner while you try to navigate the future without relying on drugs or alcohol. With that in mind, you might want to consider getting treatment from a treatment facility that also offers family treatment services. That’s something we can provide in our facility. If you would be willing to contact one of our representatives at (440) 253-9915, we would be happy to discuss the addiction treatment services we can provide for yourself and key family members.
