Counseling for Families of Addicts
When you have a family member who struggles with drug or alcohol abuse – whether they’re in denial about their problem or they’re in rehab getting help – it can be difficult to cope with the emotional turmoil that comes with being their parent, spouse, or sibling. Many families adopt various roles to cope with a family member’s addiction, which often results in broken relationships, codependence, enabling, and other problems. For this reason, offering support for families of addicts is a crucial part of helping the addict themselves recover. For the parents, siblings, and spouses who can relate to this situation, our Sebring drug rehab offers counseling for families of addicts to encourage individual healing and the reconstruction of their relationships.
Understanding Family Roles in Addiction
As we previously mentioned, the members of families that have been impacted by addiction will often adopt certain roles or dysfunctional behavioral patterns to cope with their loved one’s substance abuse. There are six common addiction family roles that family members will assume, often without realizing it:
- The Addict: This person is the focal point of the family. They are the source of the family’s conflict, as everyone else must deal with their behavior and choices.
- The Caretaker: Also known as the enabler, this person often covers up the addict’s mistakes and will make excuses for them to keep everyone happy.
- The Hero: This person is typically seen as over-responsible and self-sufficient. The hero attempts to restore the dysfunctional home life behind closed doors.
- The Scapegoat: This person is usually known as the “problem child.” Through acts of defiance or hostility, they divert attention from the addict’s behavior.
- The Mascot: This person is usually the comedian of the family, using humor and silliness to reduce the stress caused by the addict’s behavior.
- The Lost Child: This person is the quiet one of the family, flying under the radar while other family members play more involved roles.
Enabling and codependency are common problems in relationships affected by drug and alcohol addiction. Enabling occurs when one person does something the other person is perfectly capable of doing themself. It’s also characterized by taking responsibility for or trying to cover up another person’s mistakes or actions. Enabling prevents the individual with the problem from accepting the consequences of their behavior, inhibiting them from learning any real lessons.
Codependency is an emotional, behavioral condition that prevents a person from having a healthy and mutually satisfying relationship. People with codependency often form or maintain relationships that are one-sided, emotionally destructive, or abusive. Examples include spouses staying with addicts who are abusive or parents relying on being caretakers of their addicted children.
Based on these roles, it’s understandable why addiction is considered a family disease. Addiction impacts all those who are involved with and care about the addict rather than just the individual. To ensure that all members, as well as the addicted individual, receive the support they need to recover, our drug rehab in Sebring, FL, offers support groups for family of addicts on an individual and group level.
Our Family Therapy for Addiction
Our counseling for families of addicts serves family members of those struggling with substance abuse. This is regardless of whether the individual is aware of their problem, is currently receiving drug or alcohol treatment, has finished a program, or has relapsed. The program is an intensive, multi-week program that offers weekly counseling sessions both on an individual and group level.
During individual counseling sessions, family members are granted the privacy and safe space to openly discuss their struggles with a therapist. Depending on the health and stability of the addicted individual, family members and their loved ones will also be able to partake in group sessions to mend broken relationships and talk through the problems they’ve faced as a result of substance abuse.
Our family therapy for substance abuse offers benefits like:
- Encouraging treatment engagement
- Goal setting
- Positive communication
- Positive reinforcement
- Problem-solving
- Re-thinking relapse
Learning these skills will help addicts and their spouses, parents, and siblings interact more effectively while also increasing their own sense of well-being. In addition to in-house sessions, our support groups for families of addicts are also offered via our Banyan telehealth program, allowing patients with tighter schedules the flexibility to meet with our therapists no matter where they are.
Addiction Recovery Help
For more information about our counseling for families of addicts or our substance-specific Sebring drug treatment, contact Banyan Treatment Centers today.
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