My Family Problems with Addiction

Having a loved one who has an addiction to drugs or alcohol is extremely difficult for everyone involved. Whether it’s your child, spouse, or parent, you can see how drug or alcohol abuse causes family problems with addiction. Addiction can cause strain between family members in several ways. Sometimes, family members can contribute to the stress or mental health issues that lead an individual to abuse drugs or alcohol. Other times, individuals damage their relationships with family members because of the negative consequences of the decisions they make while abusing substances. No matter the situation, finding the right family therapy can help everyone involved heal and learn to overcome addiction.

There are some ways that you can help the person who is struggling with addiction while also helping yourself. There are a few things you should know about addiction first, so you’re on the right path. Beaches Recovery can guide you by confronting and overcoming addiction and providing you or a family member with the addiction treatment necessary.

Family Problems with Addiction Aren’t Your Fault

Many people sit in denial about a loved one’s addiction or feel extremely guilty because they feel somewhat at fault. You may relate to this, but you should understand that addiction is a severe illness. Certain risk factors make a person prone to addiction, like a traumatic childhood. However, addiction is a disease and can strike anyone at any time regardless of their family history. Addiction hijacks the brain’s part responsible for survival while another part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex doesn’t function properly.

Some of the responsibilities of the prefrontal cortex that get hijacked in addiction include:

• Logical decision making
• Impulse control
• Empathy
• Self-awareness
• Emotional regulation

As a dependency grows or is left untreated, individuals struggling with addiction become more untethered from healthy decision-making. At the same time, many of those around a person struggling with addiction lack the know-how about how to effectively help. This can confound the issue. Thus, it’s vital to recognize when someone is addicted and learn healthy ways to support them, and get them the healing treatment they need to address the disease.

Enabling Promotes Problems with Addiction

Now, even though the origin of your loved one’s addiction may have nothing to do with you, your enabling might. People often don’t realize how much they’re enabling a person to continue living in addiction. You don’t need to personally buy that person drugs or alcohol to be enabling them. In most cases, the continuing problems with addiction are because you still provide the person with emotional support and excuses for their addiction.

The fact of the matter is that most people with an addiction to drugs or alcohol could not continue it if it weren’t for the support of loved ones. Many families prevent a person from hitting their rock bottom because they provide financial support or a place to live. This is why an intervention is so important, but it’s also important to stick to the strong boundaries you should make. It’s often at this point that a person will realize they have no other options than to get the help they so desperately need.

Treatment Helps Problems with Addiction

Here at Beaches Recovery, we’re here to help your loved one as well as you and the rest of your family begin the healing process. Whether you’re dealing with spousal or teen drug use, we can help. We’re passionate about seeing families come back together through addiction recovery. Some of the programs we provide here at Beaches Recovery include:

• Detox programs
• Men’s drug addiction rehab program
• Women’s drug addiction rehab program
• First responder alcohol treatment
• Executive opiate rehab
• Student addiction treatment

Find out more about how we can help you and your family by calling Beaches Recovery today at 866.605.0532, or contact us online.