Addiction not only affects the user but also his or her family. Unfortunately, not everyone truly understands addiction. In fact, some people still think of it as a lack of willpower or control. However, it’s a mental disorder that requires addiction treatment. Moreover, family addiction treatment can be beneficial for everyone in the familial unit.
Getting the Family Involved in Addiction Treatment
Getting family members involved in addiction treatment is important for many reasons. First of all, family counseling serves as an educational tool for family members who know little about addiction. Therapists help them understand the severity of addiction and why it’s a disease rather than a life choice.
One of the most noteworthy pieces of information that people learn in family therapy is how addiction affects an individual. They learn that the disease changes the chemical balance in the brain. The poor choices and inability to stop using drugs aren’t choices. Instead, addiction is an obsession that the user can’t control.
Finding the Root Cause
Finding the root cause of an addiction is an important step in every treatment plan. It often stems from problems in the home. These problems may be a childhood trauma or bad influences. People who don’t find the cause of their addiction are more likely to relapse later.
Family counseling allows everyone within the immediate family to learn the root cause together. Experts believe that this approach makes it easier for everyone to fully grasp the situation. For example, if someone in the family is the root cause of the addiction, they may deny it. Family counseling can help resolve the issue in a safe environment.
Helping vs Enabling
Family members don’t like to see their loved ones struggle. As a result, they often provide support in different ways. Unfortunately, the support sometimes enables the addiction. While it’s nice to help, enabling the addiction just makes the situation worse.
Family counseling can teach family members the difference between helping and enabling. For example, let’s say that a son has a drinking problem. If the mother calls the son’s boss when he’s hungover to say that he’s sick, this enables the addiction. Rather than help the son keep his job, she simply covers up his addiction.
Take Your Life Back With Proper Treatment
At Crestview Recovery, we know how important it is to receive proper treatment. To get treatment that fits your individual needs, we offer custom treatment plans. We combine many of the different addiction programs that we offer, which include:
- Individual and group therapies
- Dual diagnosis treatment
- Intensive outpatient programs
- Aftercare
Additionally, an important part of addiction treatment is the therapy options you use. At Crestview Recovery, we offer a variety of evidence-based and holistic therapy options. Evidence-based therapies are therapy options that medical and mental experts researched and tested to make sure that they work. Alternatively, holistic treatments treat every part of you that addiction affects: mind, body, and soul. A combination of these treatments can be quite useful. Examples of the therapy programs we offer include:
Learn how family counseling can help you overcome your addiction with proper guidance. Don’t let addiction rule your life any longer. Reach out to us today at 866.262.0531 for more information about our custom treatment plans.
Since 2016, Dr. Merle Williamson, a graduate of Oregon Health Sciences University, has been the Medical Director at Crestview Recovery, bringing a rich background in addiction medicine from his time at Hazelden Treatment Center. He oversees outpatient drug and alcohol treatments, providing medical care, setting policies, detox protocols, and quality assurance measures. Before specializing in addiction medicine, he spent 25 years in anesthesiology, serving as Chair of Hospital Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and Chief of Anesthesia at Kaiser Permanente. This experience gives him a unique perspective on treating prescription drug addiction.
