Substance use disorder is a complex condition, one with the potential to impact the entire family. Understanding how addiction functions in the family can help someone better address the needs of their own family. As well, family support serves an important role in addiction recovery, allowing not only the person in recovery but also the entire family a chance to heal.

But how does a family come together to heal from recovery? It isn’t a simple process. Like any aspect of recovery it will take work and reflection. In doing so, however, a family can address their negative patterns of behavior and heal.

How to Support a Loved One Struggling with Addiction?

In order to support a loved one struggling with addiction, a person can start by asking how best to support them. Because support comes in different forms, it’s important to pay attention to the needs of the specific person. For example, a person can help their loved one develop a recovery plan that pays attention to their personal goals, helping to make it specific to their health, employment, family, and interpersonal relationships. 

A person could also attend mutual support meetings with their loved one in recovery, or help them seek out treatment services. As well as personal care, they could also offer kinship care, where a person looks after children whose parents are unable to care for them due to residential treatment, incarceration, overdose, or death.

How Does Substance Use Disorder Impact the Family?

When someone in a family has substance use disorder, the entire family is likely to develop unhealthy coping mechanisms. Typically there is less communication and a higher potential for conflict between members. As well, family members are prone to taking on the responsibilities of the person with substance use disorder. In addition, a person’s substance use disorder can cause family members to be stressed or anxious when interacting with them, negatively affecting their own health.

In a family where an adult has substance use disorder, children may begin to parent themselves. This is because an adult experiencing substance use disorder may not be able to parent or provide basic necessities such as food and clothing. As a result, their children take on adult responsibilities that aren’t appropriate for their age, and are more likely to skip school or develop unhealthy behaviors. Children may also feel insecure, unloved, or worry that the substance use is their fault.

How to Address Substance Use Disorder in the Family

When a person in a family has substance use disorder, members often find it easier not to talk about it. Instead of communicating, they keep it secret from other family and friends. While doing so may smooth daily life temporarily, it also fails to address the substance use disorder.

Instead of bottling up emotions, families can work to heal from substance use disorder. For example, they could seek out family counseling for substance use disorder. In family counseling, members will examine how they treat each other and learn to respond differently to the member with substance use disorder. When family members change the way they think about and respond to substance misuse, the entire family system changes. This can lead to positive outcomes for the family member with substance use disorder and improved health and well-being for the entire family.

Core principles of family therapy for substance use disorder include:

• Recognizing the therapeutic value of working with the entire family.
• Incorporating a non-blaming, collaborative approach between family members.
• Having harm reduction goals other than abstinence.
• Expanding outcome measures of successful treatment to include the entire family’s wellbeing.
• Acknowledging the value of relationships within family and friendship networks.
• Appreciating the importance of including a family’s values and cultural beliefs in counseling.
• Understanding the complexity of substance use disorder and the importance of working with families to manage it.

It can also be helpful for family members to hold an intervention. It can be difficult for a person with substance use disorder to notice their issue, however an intervention offers a chance to make changes and accept help.

What is an Intervention?

An intervention is when family, friends, and community members work with a healthcare professional such as a doctor, substance use counselor, or interventionist to help a loved one accept treatment. This intervention is carefully planned. It will include examples of destructive behaviors and how they affect the loved one with the addiction, a treatment plan with clear steps, goals, and guidelines, and consequences of what each person will do if their loved one doesn’t accept treatment. Following the intervention, family members will follow up with the person in need to help them stay in treatment.

Find Support with Never Alone Recovery

Substance use disorder can impact an entire family, leading each member to develop unhealthy behaviors. While it is easier to simply brush the issue under the rug, by taking the time to address the substance use disorder, a family can heal together.

Every recovery journey is different. If you or a loved one is struggling with substance use disorder, it’s never too late to find support. With an online support group and addiction recovery consultants, Never Alone Recovery is ready to help you find your way. If you’re looking for an Indiana rehab, call us today at 844-422-2311 to find out Never Alone program is right for you.