Posts Tagged Family and drug addiction

Role of the family in Treatment of a Drug Addict

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Abuse Prevention, Drug Abuse Treatment, Drug Addiction, Drug Facts, Drug Rehabilitation, Drug Testing, Prescription Drug Abuse on December 8th, 2009

It's a hard life.

The participation and encouragement of the family members has a crucial role to play in the treatment of an addict. But an essential fact is that the family members are also often extremely distressed and confused. They often face innumerable problems ranging from violence, separation, divorce, inappropriate role models and extreme financial crisis. The problem of addiction creeps in silently until it is finally detected and it is perhaps only then faced by the family. However, by that time it has left a mark on each family member. Thus initially even the family members require a lot of assistance and encouragement to enable them to support the person in treatment.

Drug addiction is not a condition which can be completely cured once it is treated. It is a chronic, relapsing condition and the chances of reverting to the same situation is quite high if the individual along with his family members do not take adequate precautions. Treating addiction thus involves more than just getting the dependent to stop using drugs. It also involves counseling the family members thus improving the family relationships and functioning.

The family members have an important role to play in helping the recovering drug user adapting to the substance-free lifestyle. Extra money can always lead to a relapse. Thus the family should guide the person in managing finance in a better way by making use of some of the options like clearing his previous debts, budgeting current expenses or investing for the future.

Time management is one of the most important tasks of a recovering drug user and the family can play a critical role in this area by helping the individual schedule activities, engaging him in some activities of his interest.

Re-integration with the family is foundation of any treatment approach. The understanding, support and co-operation of the family members can help these hapless individuals come back to the mainstream of life.

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Family and Drug Addiction

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Abuse Prevention, Drug Abuse Treatment, Drug Addiction, Drug Facts, Drug Rehabilitation, Drug Testing on December 7th, 2009

family

The family of an addicted person plays a pivotal role which could be either detrimental or beneficial for his recovery. Family members may be closely involved with several aspects of addiction: their response to addiction, their response to the dependent person and influence on the course of addiction and their role in the individual’s treatment and aftercare, which may either aid or precipitate relapse.

Most of the family members suffer from tension, anxiety, depression, insomnia and other such symptoms. They may also have serious social and psychological problems. Strong senses of anger, guilt as well as a desire for vengeance are not uncommon. Denial of the existing problem by the family members worsens the situation. Denial is an unconscious process of blocking out reality. The problem of denial is manifested in different ways like failure to see the problem entirely, recognizing the extent or severity of the problem, realizing the connection between drug use and the problems it has caused and above all understanding the fact that the drug dependent needs help in dealing with the problem.

The family members try their best to cover up the misdeeds of the addicted person, completing his unfinished work, paying the bills that he did not pay and rescuing him from various kinds of problems like legal problems. They usually take up the responsibilities which the addict has abandoned. Denial allows everyone to pretend that there is no problem. The longer the denial goes on, the longer it takes before the drug user changes his behavior.

A significant family member can thus be either supportive or inductive. The former category can greatly reduce damage and can be extremely useful in treatment. But the inducer shows extremely unsupportive behavior which actually induces the individual to continue drug use. He constantly rebukes him, imposes excessive surveillance, restriction and threats all of which actually worsen the situation and induces drug use.

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