Addiction doesn’t just impact the person struggling with a substance abuse disorder. Addiction is also a family disease because it negatively impacts those you love most. The negative impact on your loved ones is especially profound if you’re married or have children. Since addiction requires treatment, family therapy plays an important role in your recovery, as the benefits of a family program include improving your personal and familial relationships.
Substance abuse disorders, addiction, and alcoholism can destroy your personal life, cause medical problems, and lead to financial destitution. Addiction is a deadly and incurable disease. It can impair your judgment and cause you to make risky and dangerous decisions. During addiction, your tolerance continues to increase. This forces you to constantly use more and more so you can continue to experience the same pleasurable effects.
How Addiction Impacts Families
Addiction is a mental health disease that causes you to lose control of your substance use. Both prescription drugs and illicit narcotics can cause dependency, which means that even recreational use can lead to abuse and addiction. Experimenting with substances like alcohol and marijuana also increases your chances of using more dangerous drugs, like opiates.
Although addiction starts with your first use, dependency can occur rapidly. The stages of addiction have no set timeline, meaning you can develop an addiction within weeks, months, or even years after you first use a substance. That means that every time you use a psychoactive substance, you place yourself at risk of developing a dependency. When you prioritize your substance use over all other areas of your life, it can severely damage various parts of your life, such as:
- Career
- Finances
- Personal and familial relationships
- Physical and emotional health
- Quality of life and life expectancy
Abusing drugs and alcohol can cause you to spend excessive amounts of money on your substance of choice, which can make it hard to pay bills. Addiction can also cause you to stay out late or neglect your family, which can create increased conflict. Drug and alcohol abuse also increases your chances of experiencing physical altercations and domestic violence. During treatment, a family program ensures your loved ones also have an opportunity to recover and heal.
The Benefits of a Family Program
When you decide to complete treatment for a substance abuse disorder, alcoholism, or addiction, the benefits of a family program make family therapy an important part of your recovery. Providing your loved ones with the ability to share their thoughts and feelings about how addiction has impacted them is one of the many benefits of a family program.
Both inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment programs offer family therapy, making it easy to include your loved ones in your treatment. Treatment and early recovery is also an ideal time to work on establishing healthy boundaries and improve communication. These are two other huge benefits of a family program.
Family therapy is also a great way to start working on a discharge and aftercare plan. When your family understands what your recovery needs are, it makes it easier to adjust to life following treatment. A family therapy program can help educate your family about things like relapses, triggers, and cravings. Thus helping them set realistic expectations during your recovery.
Right Step Houston’s Family Therapy Program
When you are battling an addiction, it impacts not only you but also those you care about most. Making sure that you and your loved ones have a chance to heal and recover ensures that you have the support and understanding necessary to recover. To find out more about the benefits of a family program or to explore your treatment options, contact Right Step Houston today at 1.844.768.0169.