Family counseling for addiction can be extremely beneficial. Anyone who has a loved one struggling with drugs or alcohol can agree that addiction doesn’t just affect the person who is using drugs or alcohol. Addiction is a family disease, and everyone involved in the person’s life on a day to day basis is affected by the ripple effects of addiction. Having a safe space to express their feelings and how the addiction has affected their lives is extremely beneficial for the addicted person and family affected by the disease. There is help for the addict and family alike to help repair the relationships within the family and teach healthy boundaries and coping skills for everyone involved.
How Does Addiction Affect the Family?
Since addiction is a family disease, everyone within the family structure is affected when they have a loved one addicted to drugs and alcohol.The level of stress caused by a loved one’s addictions can put strain on the relationships. Or the stresses can break the relationships all together. Watching someone slowly self-destruct when they are abusing drugs and alcohol is extremely hard to watch due to the feeling of helplessness. You may want to “fix” them. Unfortunately, you can’t. They have to seek help and try to get control of their life back.
When someone you love abuses drugs and alcohol, it can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms to form within the family structure. Some of the ways that addiction can affect the family structure include:
- Poor communication
- Negative emotions
- Threat to safety
- Shift in responsibility
- Denial of a problem and justification
- Enabling
- Lack of structure
- Lack of boundaries
These unhealthy coping mechanisms and effects of addiction on the family can cause chaos within the structure of said family. Family counseling for addiction is a proven method to begin repairing these relationships and helping loved ones to end the unhealthy coping mechanisms and replace them with healthier ways of dealing with the effects of their loved one’s addiction.
What is Family Counseling?
Family counseling for addiction is a safe place where family members can begin the healing process from the aftermath of a loved one’s addiction. Their addicted family member may be receiving the proper treatment they need in order to recover from their addiction, but that does not mean that all the damage that the addiction caused is going to repair itself. The family unit needs to heal from the addiction as well. This is where family counseling comes in.
Family counseling for addiction allows for judgment-free expression of their feelings and an understanding that with the proper counseling and help that the family has the ability to heal as well. Family relationships can heal and loved ones can learn healthy boundaries and coping skills.
What Makes Family Counseling So Important?
Addiction is a family disease, making family counseling for addiction a crucial part of recovery. While you can’t save your loved one from self-destruction, participating in family counseling can be hugely beneficial. When the family structure is broken, the addicted person often feels a deep sense of guilt. This only adds fuel to the fire of their addiction. By participating in family counseling, it can let your loved one know that you still care. Your participation lets them know that you support their decision to get clean and sober.
Another reason that family counseling for addiction is so important is that it is the beginning stages for family healing. It can help to rebuild trust as your loved one starts to get their addiction under control, and begins to regain control of their life. Knowing that you are trying to trust them and be there for them can make all of the difference.
Family counseling is so beneficial to the family as a whole. It can help to heal the broken relationships and trust. Also, it can help to provide a place to express to your loved one how their addiction has affected you. Finally, it can help them to process how addiction has affected their family, making them not want to cause more harm. Family counseling for addiction is the best thing a family can do to make everyone in involved feel heard.
Addiction Treatment and Family Counseling in Knoxville, TN
Addiction can be devastating to a person and the loved ones around them. It can seem to be nearly impossible to get the person back to their normal, loving self. But it is possible. There is help for them, and hope for the family’s desire to get their loved one back. At Discovery Place, we offer individualized treatment plans for those suffering with addiction. Also, we provide help for the family that is affected by the loved one’s addiction. A safe place to talk about the things they have been holding in for so long. Contact us today to get your loved one on the path to recovery.
