How Does Drug Addiction Impact Families?

Drug addiction can be an incredibly painful experience, reaching out to affect all of society. According to Nacoa, it’s estimated that there are 3 million children in the UK living with parental alcohol problems, showing the seriousness of the problem.

We’re going to look at how addiction affects families, how you can support them and what going to a private drug and alcohol rehab would be like for your loved one.

Drug Addiction Doesn’t Only Affect the Individual

Addictions spread out from the person suffering. Those close to them, especially family, often feel the brunt of addiction too. As an addiction causes changes in priorities, behaviour and health of a person, this damages relationships and how families communicate.

It can be hard for family members to watch what addiction is doing to their family member. They feel helpless and can be affected in many ways, suffering potentially mental and physical anguish themselves.

Nothing is safe from addiction. Trust, finances, mental wellbeing and family stability are all potential casualties of it.

How Drug Addiction Impacts Families

The effects of drug addiction on family are wide-ranging and can cause huge strain within the household and beyond.

Emotional Effects

Those watching someone fall into addiction can be emotionally tormented too, living every day with uncertainty about what is going to happen. They will have anxiety about their loved one, anger and fear. This can all be tied up in guilt about their own actions and shame related to people finding out.

All this can be too much for people. It’s not healthy to constantly sit with these emotions and will cause chronic stress in family members. Chronic stress can cause damage to your mental and physical health, leaving you at higher risk of developing mental health issues and damaging your immune system.

Breakdown of Trust

Trust will erode over time. People suffering from addiction will often become more dishonest, secretive and make a string of broken promises. This repeated cycle of hope and disappointment causes family members to lose faith.

They’ve heard it all before, and nothing will change. When a person truly wants to change, it can be hard for family members to truly believe it. Professional help is often needed to help rebuild trust in a family because of this.

Family Conflict

Addiction will put strain on relationships. Family members are not recovery experts, so regular arguments are common. People going through addiction also begin to retreat from everyone, isolating themselves and spiralling.

How to deal with it can breed conflict between family members as everyone has a different opinion on what should be done. This division can deepen and expand, fracturing the family so that nothing is sorted and the problem just worsens.

The Wider Effects on Family Life

Practical effects will be felt as well, as everyday life is disrupted. Addiction can amount to financial issues due to legal fees, money spent on substances, and paying for treatment. Parents with addiction will become unreliable, meaning the spouses have to do more than they can handle.

Other family units as a whole retreat from their friends and family, socially isolating themselves too as they struggle to know what to do or how to approach addiction.

If addiction is not dealt with, it can lead to divorce, estrangement from children, losing the house and long-lasting legal trouble.

The Impact on Children

Children are particularly at risk when it comes to addiction. Many children suffer from anxiety, without fully understanding what it is, while worrying about their parent. They’re more likely to develop long-lasting mental health difficulties, and their development will suffer. They could live in a household of fear and confusion, isolating from other children, missing social events and being bullied.

Children may also be abused by people with addiction who are prone to violence when under the influence.

In the long term, the damage to a child can be lifelong without help. They’ll carry the deep emotional scars forever, preventing them from living a healthy life unless they get help.

Supporting a Loved One Without Enabling Their Addiction

Family members want to help their loved one, but enabling can ruin recovery efforts. Enabling is when you provide the resources and support that really fuels their behaviour, giving them money, ignoring the problem and excusing their behaviour.

You can give them support, love them, and not fall into enabling.

To properly support a loved one and help them find the motivation to begin recovery, you can:

• Set healthy boundaries
• Encourage them in getting professional treatment
• Avoid giving financial support that sustains addiction
• Talk honestly
• Look after your own wellbeing
• Recognise personal limits

Why Professional Help Benefits the Whole Family

Professional treatment will not only help the person with an addiction but the whole family too.

Treatment for Addiction

Professional rehabilitation improves recovery because your loved one gains access to a comprehensive treatment programme. They’ll go through a medically assisted detox to end their dependence on drugs, participate in a range of therapies to begin dealing with the underlying issues and work on relapse prevention, lessening the risk of having to come back.

The plan they go through will be personalised, suited to their unique needs and situation.

Family Therapy

Family support for addiction can be helpful to recovery. It allows time and a safe space for family units to rebuild communication and trust, work on healthy communication and help relatives become more educated about addiction.

This coming together and pulling in the same direction will likely strengthen long-term recovery and improve relationships.

Asana Lodge offers family therapy as part of our holistic approach to addiction treatment, as we look to treat people and not just addictions.

Looking After Yourself as a Family Member

Addiction can take over everyone’s lives. Family members often feel forgotten and burned out by helping someone else.

The thing is, though: you can’t really help someone unless you are looking after yourself.

You need to practice self-care and ensure you are doing well so that you can better help your loved one. Things you can do to better look after yourself include:

• Avoiding isolation
• Accepting help from others
• Eating, sleeping well and exercising regularly
• Maintaining routines
• Joining a support group
• Seeking your own counselling

When Is It Time to Seek Help?

Addiction won’t get better if left alone. To improve recovery outcomes, you need to act sooner.

Knowing the warning signs of addiction can help you get your loved one the help they need more quickly.

Key warning signs to be aware of include:

• Increasing drug use
• Repeated failed attempts to quit
• Deteriorating mental health
• Relationship breakdown
• Financial crisis
• Overdose
• Legal problems

Get Drug Addiction Family Help Today

Addiction affects everyone around those going through it. The situation can seem like a losing battle, but recovery is possible with the right treatment and support.

If you are suffering or are helping someone with a drug addiction, you don’t have to go through it alone.

Asana Lodge provides professional residential addiction treatment and family support. Get in touch today to have a confidential chat about your situation and how we can help.