28 Dec Is My Family Causing My Addiction?
Can family members enable me to continue using drugs? A family can be composed of biological parents/children, adoptive parents/children, or possibly a foster family. A family provides us with our morals and beliefs, our daily rituals and habits, our ability to communicate and how we view people and things in society. It is for these reasons that family therapy is a crucial part of addiction treatment because it allows for the therapist to assist the family in identifying issues or misunderstandings within the family that may have helped in leading the individual down a path of addiction.
The family plays an important role in helping the individual in treatment navigate through any issues they may have; not only is the individual impacted by these issues, so is the family. By participating in therapy, the family is able to work together to develop ways of getting through these crucial times together and finding coping mechanisms that work for each individual member.
A therapist will try to understand the role of each of the family members as a whole and how this impacts not only the individual in treatment but the overall dynamics of the family. The goal then for the therapist is to identify how each of the members of the family can work together to overcome issues they see and to help the individual in treatment maintain their sobriety.
Addiction treatment can feel isolating at times, so being able to have a family to lean on and see as support can help the individual immensely. They will grow together and learn how to support one another and because of this, the family will become stronger. The individual will have a better chance of maintaining their sobriety with a support team behind them.
We invite family members to our family therapy sessions so that individuals who are affected by substance use disorder (SUD) may start repairing their family relationship. If you feel someone you love needs treatment, please learn more about your options.