Photo by Eric Ward

Originally Posted On: Time To Look Out For Those Who Need It The Most — Her Culture

Drug addiction (or any type of addiction), is not an easy thing to deal with. If it is someone in your family, it affects each and every one of the family members and causes everyone without exception to feel a sense of helplessness and suffering. However, the addicted person has a role that serves the whole family and therefore it is difficult to just brush it off and forget that it does not exist…because it does. When it is someone close to you however, it is down to other family members to maintain stability while avoiding dealing with issues that can lead to family crises, such as dealing with stress and anger, relationship problems, satisfying the family member’s control needs. It all starts with accepting the problem and being open to dealing with it. You should firstly consider https://enterhealth.com/residential-drug-alcohol-addiction-treatment/.

In light of all this, every process of change has the potential to threaten to upset the balance. For example, it may be best for someone to enter a rehab facility. But these decisions should be made collectively and without force; that is how the best decisions are made for one another. There is a family dynamic that allows for the continued existence of the addiction problem. Professional help can really assist people greatly and is known to have plenty of benefits. Oftentimes, addiction is not conscious dynamic or a dynamic created with malicious intent, but over time it can certainly lead to devastating consequences and even exacerbate the existing addiction.

HOW DO PARENTS ASSIST? AMONG OTHER THINGS, RELATIVES PRESERVE THE ADDICTION IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

1. Ignorance – In some cases the family can completely passively cooperate with the addiction. For example, some parents can ignore all warning signs, even though they are clear warning signs like the sun.

2. Concealment and cover-up – Some parents protect their children and hide the secret of addiction from the immediate environment even for many years out of shame or a desire not to harm the good name of the family.

3. Only when the family stops covering and protecting the addict will they learn that they need assistance. They will then begin to understand that they must take matters into their own hands and accept responsibility for their life. It is also of paramount importance that the family understand that the addict is not a problem that needs to be fixed or solved and that they will take an active part in finding the healthy balance again.

IN WHAT AREAS DOES FAMILY THERAPY FOCUS ON ADDICTIONS?

As part of the therapeutic process, efforts are made to stop the family pretense that everything is fine and everything is fine and attempts are made to bring about a more real relationship while acknowledging the emotional pain and emotional distress. Therefore the change will focus mainly on the following areas:

Communication – During the process it is important to learn to conduct open, helpful and open communication between family members, to manage conflicts in a constructive and non-destructive way and to communicate around honest and true feelings.

Recognition of needs – It is important that the addict is aware of their needs and reveals their true self while at the same time it is of paramount importance that the rest of the family also recognize their needs and find the path to satisfy them, not through addiction.

Boundaries – It is very important to set healthy and stable boundaries between family members while adjusting to emotional needs. For example, an addict may refuse their mother’s request to go to the pub where his alcoholic father sits because he is aware that his presence there may endanger his own rehab.

Separation and self – In this process the addict learns how to behave as a separate entity from their parents. If up to this point he felt out of control, weak and dependent, now they are learning how to trust their abilities, how to believe in themselves and how to manage their life independently and separately.

Recognizing that addiction is an ongoing condition – it is important to help family members internalize the fact that addiction is not a problem that can be solved once and for all but a chronic condition that needs to be learned how to deal with.

In conclusion, it can be written that the support of the whole family in the weaning process and in the process of caring for an addicted family member is critical to their future success.