Addiction is one big problem that can affect not only the user, but his family members too. In short, addiction is a kind of disease that can affect the entire family. Particularly children are the ones that are affected by addiction the most as the parent is involved in substance addiction problem. They are more at risk of maltreatment compared to any other family members.
When it comes to recovery, families can also play a very important role to get out of it. If addiction is impacting you and your family then you can seek help from the best addiction centers in California. The Concise recovery center is one of the top-rated ones, which provides every patient with a compassionate and evidence-based treatment with individual attention.
Impact of Addiction On Families
When it comes to homes, in America you will find a blend of families living together like the nuclear families, single-parent families, multi-generational families, and even Foster families. So, you can understand the impact of this addiction that will have on the family members. For example, a parent who has smaller children can sometimes try to compensate for the shortcomings of his/her spouse, while some children of an alcoholic parent will start behaving like an adult which is too early for his/her developmental stage.
Many a times you will see substance-addicted parents can become overly dependent on their children, which in turn will keep the child away from his/her learning experiences. So, all we can see here is negativism, aggressiveness, fights, and a very unhealthy living environment.
Importance of family in recovery
So, if you have a loved one around who is addicted to any substance or alcohol and who is willing to change themselves, the only thing you as a family would want to do is to help them get out of it. There are many different roles that a family member can play to get the person to recover. This can be in the form of:
- Savior or a hero: They will want to save the family from any kind of a shame that has been caused due to the addicted family member.
- The Mascot: This kind of people provide a comic environment for people around them who are highly stressed
- The lost child: They keep themselves away from family both physically and mentally
- The scapegoat: They create problems to divert the attention of family members towards themselves.
- The Enabler: They are the ones that will smooth things for the addicted person by keeping them away from the consequences caused by their poor choices
Family members have to take their roles very seriously so that they can encourage the patient from getting over addiction. Just like a parent can become supportive and stern on their kids so that the kid can take a thoughtful and positive action. A healthy family is the one who can be strict with the addicted person when he makes a wrong choice and at the same time give rewards when they have done something good.
