The Unique Challenges Of Addiction Treatment For Homeless Populations
How to help treat addiction for the homeless Substance abuse is both a precipitating factor and a consequence of homelessness. Prevalence estimates of substance use among homeless individuals are approximately 20-35% as many as 10-20% are dually …
substance abusesubstance abuseaffects
Most Serious Effects Of Drug Addiction On Family Members
Although the reasons are varied, they can be cut down to a few specific issues. They tend to blame others for their problems and end up isolating themselves from the people who care about them most. References: Medicalnewstoday 2022 W hat are Effects of Drug Abuse. Drug addiction is Just like other diseases, the support and guidance of a knowledgeable expert can be a vital resource for those who are struggling with addiction, as well as to those who are most closely affected by loved ones with substance abuse issues. If these are set too low, children may simply conform and never hope to achieve. It can impact the entire family in many ways. With treatments that include individual counselling, group therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, 12-step work, and family therapy, the patient will eventually be able to identify the cause of the illness and work on rebuilding his or her life.
Family Therapy As A Treatment Option
The treatment process for someone who has an addiction to drugs needs to be expanded and include all members of the drug addicts family. Drug abuse affects all family members at different levels. Therefore it is important to seek and provide help for everyone.
Family therapy can open the lines of communication. It can allow discussions to take place with a therapist who is impartial and available to guide conversations in a healthy manner. Healing needs to occur with all family members and family therapy is a great way to begin that process.
While undergoing therapy treatments, it may be discovered that family therapy may not be the only therapy that is needed. Other individual therapy and treatment options can include:
- Multifamily group therapy
- Psychological consultations
You May Like: How To Know If Addicted To Alcohol
How Addiction Affects The Family And How To Recover
Sadly, there are a number of negative impacts when one examines how drugs affect families and relationships, including a breakdown in communication. This can create a number of negative emotions and a negative home environment. Additionally, drug abuse can cause problems with money, child development, parental skills, and even lead to broken families. The ugly prospect of domestic violence also becomes more likely. While substance abuse is not the direct cause, it is often found in both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.
Thankfully, there is hope. Family prevention is key. In keeping strong family relationships, parents can effectively lower the odds of their child or children abusing substances in the future. But, if drug abuse does occur, early intervention and support can allow that individual to recover quickly and with minimal damage to their health and relationships.
Drug abuse can lead to serious addictive behavior, which can be difficult to overcome in the future. But, sobriety is possible. All it takes is the right help! Give us a call to speak to an addiction specialist today. They can give you guidance on treatment programs and centers that are right for you and your family. Remember, you can overcome.
Social Isolation And Unhealthy Relationships
Addictive drinking and drug use have a negative impact on every aspect of a persons life. One of the ways addiction harms family is the social aspect of the disease. It can change the way a family interacts with the world around them. One of the first things that you will notice is that your family will slowly withdraw from day-to-day activities. If you have children, they may not want to invite their friends over to your home anymore. Your spouse may not want to attend social events together. Even neighbors may start to avoid you. And the reason? They are uncomfortable around you when you are drunk or high.
Don’t Miss: How Much Does Rehab Cost For Drug Addiction
Counseling For Family Members Of Drug Addicts: What To Expect
Healing from addiction in the family Family counseling can help families recover and heal from addiction. How? Today, we speak with Flicky Gildenhuys , an educator in the field of parenting and author of the book Blending Families about the …
Substance abuse affectsfamilyfamilysubstance abusefamily
Substance Abuse And Divorce
Addiction can have a major impact on relationships, including intimate relationships between spouses and other romantic partners. Financial issues and infidelity are common contributing factors.
Being the child of divorced parents, too, can also be a risk factor for developing substance use issuesalthough this can vary from person to person.
Also Check: How To Stop Nitrous Oxide Addiction
How Addiction Impacts Young Children
According to Psychology Today, 1 in 5 children grows up in a home where a parent abuses drugs or alcohol. Witnessing the trauma of a parent suffering from addiction at a young age has long-term effects on the child. Children who grow up seeing a parent addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to develop SUDs in their adulthood. They are also 3 times more likely to be neglected or physically and/or sexually abused. Seeing a parent on drugs often invokes distressing emotions which not only create delays in learning and development but can also lead to pronged mental and emotional disorders.
Since children are still developing their personalities and are vulnerable to external influences, they run the risk of repeating such behaviors. Children may be exposed to aggression or violent behavior due to a parentâs drinking. Arguments between parents may be normal, causing the child emotional distress as they witness family members fighting.
Early exposure to a home divided by drug use can cause a child to feel emotionally and physically neglected and unsafe. As a result, they can become more mentally and emotionally unstable. Children may develop extreme guilt and self-blame for a parentâs substance abuse. They may develop feelings of unworthiness or develop dysfunctional attachments in their adulthood. In extreme cases, children can be removed from the home and placed in foster care.
Online Addiction Counseling
Substance Abuse: How Big Is The Problem
In popular cultural stereotypes of the American family, drugs and alcohol are not part of a happy household. Yet statistics indicate that the problem of substance abuse affects people from all walks of life, including parents, children, spouses, and partners living in otherwise normal homes. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health of 2014, one out of 10 Americans age 12 and older used an illicit drug in the past 30 days a number higher than any year since 2002. The primary reasons for this increase include the rise in abuse of marijuana and nonmedical use of prescription drugs, especially narcotic pain relievers like OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, and fentanyl.
Alcohol abuse is also prevalent among American households. Out of the 139.7 million Americans age 12 and older who reported drinking alcohol in 2014, 16.3 million defined themselves as heavy drinkers, and 60.9 reported that they were binge drinkers, according to the NSDUH.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as the consumption of 4-5 drinks in a two-hour period, while heavy drinking is defined as the consumption of five or more alcoholic beverages on five or more days within the past month.
Read Also: How Much Does Addiction Counselors Make
How Drug Addiction Affects The Entire Family
Addiction affects the family.
Its easy to think of the ways drug addiction affects the person using substances. As addiction progresses, the impact only gets worse with time. There can be short- and long-term health effects, loss of jobs, increasing financial troubles, and run-ins with the law. Living in active addiction is not a simple way to live.
However, people who struggle with addiction are not the only ones who feel the impact. The effects of active addiction stretch out far beyond the person using substances. Immediate family members are also affected when their loved one has a drug or alcohol problem. Whether its a child, parent, or spouse, addiction alters the lives of anyone who loves the person.
After her brother was diagnosed with the disease of addiction, Sam Fowler and her family had to change the way they lived their lives. In her talk, she tells about her experiences suffering from the family disease.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
Addiction affects the entire family in many ways. The specific effects depend on which person in the family unit has the problem. Relationships, finances, safety, and more are all at risk.
If your loved one struggles with drug addiction, how should you respond? What are some of the many ways addiction affects the entire family? Where can families with a loved one in active addiction find help?
How Drug Use By Family Members Hurts The Family
Drug abuse has a ripple effect. Not only is it a health issue, but it can also affect all aspects of a healthy family and cause them to worry.
Absence: An individuals absence is one of the biggest social effects of drugs. When alcohol and drugs begin to consume someones life, they often look for ways to hide their behavior. They may also try to get away with other addicts to avoid explaining their behavior to family members.
Often, the addict views concern from a family member as nagging, so they try to avoid being at home to escape from family interactions. The loss felt by those at home varies from person to person.
A constant fear of loss: According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 70,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2017. If youre like most people, you probably know someone personally who died of an overdose, or at least heard of someone close. Family members are often consumed with worry about losing a loved one who suffers from addiction.
Financial impact: Drugs are expensive. An addict may spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on drugs each month, which can cause a financial strain on families. An addict may steal credit cards and cash from other family members, and if the individual starts treatment, the cost can be significant.
Changes in behavior: Drug addiction causes changes in behavior that are widespread throughout the home. This is one reason drugs cause people to lose friends. Others can no longer rely on them.
References
Recommended Reading: Things For Recovering Addicts To Do
Physical And Emotional Abuse
In addition to making the addict irrational, their substance abuse is also likely to put everyone around them on edge. This means that simple disagreements can result in big fights as everyone feels misunderstood.
With everyone acting out of character, physical abuse may start occurring on top of the pre-existing emotional abuse. Addicts can be the perpetrators of abuse, but their vulnerability also puts them at risk of becoming victims of it, too.
Children of addicts might also end up becoming abusers as well. In an attempt to shift blame from the addicted parent, some children may end up acting out and misbehaving. These actions can later scar them and cause them to turn to drinking or drug use as their relative did. Abuse and addiction can become a deadly cycle that can only be broken by treatment.
Effect Of Drug Addiction On Individual Family And Society
After that, they’ll have to rely on their savings to feed their addiction. Ranieri has lectured extensively to physicians, nurses, counselors and laypeople about the Disease of Addiction throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 2012. Family Roles in Addiction Below are summaries of each of the six primary family roles in addiction. Risk of Disease Another unfortunate consequence of addiction is the risk of spreading infections, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C. Solving the crisis of drug abuse is a challenge that has united people from all backgrounds and disciplines, pooling their skills, resources, and knowledge to take on this societal affliction together.
Also Check: When Your Partner Has An Addiction
Recovery Treatment And Therapy For Family Members Of Addicts
Whether the addict seeks help for their addiction or not, family members of an addict need their own recovery treatment. Recovery treatment and therapy for family members of addicts are meant to help family members come to terms with their loved ones addiction.
Treatment can include individual and family therapy with the addict or with just the family members impacted by their loved ones addiction. Group counseling with other families may also be used. The objective is to help the family recover from the effects of addiction caused by their loved one in a caring, supportive, and nonjudgmental environment.
As can be seen, alcohol and drug addiction affects family members of the addict too. The impacts of the addiction on family members will vary, depending on the specific factors and circumstances of the household and whether one or both parents are struggling with addiction.
Furthermore, things become more complex when children and teens of addicts develop their own substance abuse problems at an early age.
Life Does Not Always Go According To Plan
Drugs and alcohol can cause problems even in families that seem to be doing everything right. In this instance, it is best to address addictive behavior as early as possible. Postponing an intervention can lead to the mentioned effects on ones entire family and a wide range of adverse health effects on the person with the substance use disorder.
One of the worst side effects of addictive behavior is how it changes the brain. In engaging in substance abuse and addictive behavior, you essentially rewire your mind to be more addictive. This is especially true in children since their brains are still developing. But, if the family can intervene early enough, the consequences for the individual and the group will be minimal.
Family members can play a huge role in getting treatment for drug addiction. Are you worried a family member of yours might be suffering from an addiction? If so, then call us today. Our experts will help you help them get started on a healthier journey.
Read Also: American Addiction Center Newport News
Effects Of Parental Drug Abuse On Children
Alcohol and drug abuse negatively impacts everyone in the family, but too often children and adolescents are most affected by the addiction of a parent.
How Addition Affects Spouses
Within the context of marriage, it is understandable that addiction affects spouses in the most obvious ways. Addiction can cause individuals to become dishonest and selfish, but the person living with the addiction is often unable to see or understand the impact of this behavior. This tends to drive a wedge between partners, causing spouses to react with guilt, shame, or sadness.
Generally speaking, life and marriage’s general ups and downs are common factors to cause conflict within marital relationships. However, when one partner is abusing substances, a cycle of conflict can be apparent within the household. Research has found that addiction and higher divorce rates have a closely interlinked relationship, it can also affect the well-being and mental health of the partner dealing with the substance abuse.
You May Like: How To Identify An Addict
How To Get Your Loved One Into Treatment
Having a family member with an addiction problem is painful, confusing, and overwhelming. The situation is not hopeless, though. Treatment facilities can help people with substance abuse problems and the families who love them.
If you want to know how to get someone into rehab, we can help. Peace Valley Recovery provides well-rounded, comprehensive addiction treatment programs. If your loved one wants to stop using drugs and alcohol, we can help.
We know the pain of caring for someone who cant stay clean and sober, and we are here for you. Call us today to speak with an admissions counselor who can answer any questions. You dont have to walk this path alone!
The Addicted Family Member
This role is the person abusing substances. They are the source of a lot of the conflict, whether it be indirectly or directly. Due to changes in brain chemistry and the effects of drug and alcohol use, they tend to be selfish, acting and behaving in ways that are suited to them, regardless of the impact on the family. Much of the family dynamic revolves around this member.
Recommended Reading: How Do You Know You Have An Addiction
What Are The Effects Of Addiction
People who struggle with substance abuse and dependence go through a lot of changes. They deal with physical changes. Addiction also impacts their cognitive and behavioral patterns. It can even impact their relationships with friends and family members. For many of the families of drug addicts, substance abuse can present a lot of problems. Here as some of those issues:
It creates an unhealthy distance. A lot of the families of drug addicts go through isolation. They may feel that they are being shut out of the lives of their addicted loved ones. Immediate family members, such as the spouse or children of a person with an addiction, may be isolated from the extended family.
Addiction places family members in an awkward position. Often, families of drug addicts are labeled as enablers. This term has quite a negative connotation. But, most people do not intend to enable or condone the addictions of their loved one. Addiction changes the way people act and feel. So, seeing a loved one who seems to need a substance makes it hard for families. It sometimes leads them to allow their addicted family members to engage in harmful activity just to keep the peace.
It negatively impacts children. Kids who see their parents or other adult loved ones deal with addiction often grow up in a harmful environment. They may be physically or emotionally abused by the adults. Or, the children may end up leading a life of addiction because of the example their parents set.
