THERAPIES
Family Addiction Counseling
While patients may pursue addiction in isolation, they are always embedded in complex systems–the most meaningful of which is their family.
Family dynamics are often intergenerational. Coping mechanisms get passed down from one generation to the next. Alcoholism, substance abuse, and mental health are all strongly related inside families. Healing together is beneficial for all parties involved.
What is Family Addiction Counseling?
Family addiction counseling is a therapy that views the patient as firmly embedded in multiple systems such as family, community, culture, and society.[1] These systems have complex dynamics and, to some extent, have organized around their addiction. It is impossible to treat a patient without considering the context of these systems.
Whether the patient’s family has accommodated their addiction or if they have pushed them away, their sobriety, in part, depends on the family being a source of positive reinforcement for sober behavior. As such, family addiction counselors advocate that family must be incorporated into addiction counseling as a helpful guide to your recovery.
The definition of the patient’s “health” is also expanded from simply a sense of well-being to the well-being of their entire family since the family is usually the most significant embedded system.
The patient becomes co-invested in the success of their family, which serves both protective and purposeful functions. And their family becomes co-invested in the patient’s sobriety, which serves a compassionate and meaningful function.
Could you or someone you know need Family Addiction Counseling?
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Types of Family Counseling
There are many different ways to involve family in your addiction counseling. Each family therapy model could be helpful depending on why it is being used:
- Supportive Family Therapy: A safe environment where family members can discuss their feelings without fear of reprisal.
- Psychodynamic Therapy: Focuses on an individual’s past inside a family, helping them make sense of the past and giving them an insight into their current mindset.
- Systemic Family Therapy: Focuses on changing stagnant behavior patterns inside families, which produce persistently negative outcomes.
- Structural Family Therapy: Focuses on the communications between family members.
- Narrative Therapy: Focuses on how our interactions inside our family impact how we perceive reality, and sometimes we need to use our own voice to make sense of our reality (even if it’s a different experience than our other family members).
Family dynamics for addiction
The family is the most basic system of society. As such, families are responsible for nurturing, moralizing, incentivizing, and socializing their children.
“There is more caught than taught,” the saying goes. Children learn many things from their parents, and some of it is unhealthy coping mechanisms. This maladaptation goes by the name “Family of Origin.”
Addictions are often observed generationally. If a child grows up in a family with an alcohol dependency, they will often roleplay either “saving” someone from hurting themselves or “protecting” a family member from violence. Unfortunately, this trauma manifests itself later in life as a greater likelihood of the child victim themselves becoming alcohol-dependent.[2]
Mental health is strongly transmitted within families. A study comparing the marital interactions between parents with their now-married children found interactions regarding conflict between the parents were strongly correlated with the corresponding way their children approached conflict with their spouse.[3] The parents transmitted their conflict resolution to their kids.
When families can produce such a powerful effect on children, it’s no wonder that family dynamics can influence addiction and relapse. It’s necessary to involve the family in the treatment process, so any unhealthy dynamics can be addressed.
What’s the Best Way to Find Family Counseling for Addiction?
Some treatment centers do not offer family-based therapies. Check online to see if a treatment facility offers therapies like supportive family, psychodynamic, systemic, structural, or narrative therapy. All these therapies can be family-friendly.
If you’re still having trouble finding quality care, call the national hotline for SAMHSA at 1-800-662-4357 or search their database. It’s a free and confidential healthcare referral service for people suffering from substance use and mental disorders.
Once you find a quality, family-friendly treatment facility, the first step will be to undergo detailed assessments and determine the exact level of care needed.
What We Treat with Addiction Family Counseling
Cost of Family Addiction Counseling
Cost is often a deterrent to seeking medical help. But, there are financial aid programs in place to help people who want to make a positive change in the trajectory of their lives but don’t have access to much disposable income.
Check with your insurance carrier if there are any treatment centers they partner with. Some insurances even cover therapies like acupuncture. There also might be local, state, or national low-income programs you qualify for.
No matter the programs you may qualify for, the cost of family addiction counseling will vary depending on the length of your stay, the intensity of care, and the specific therapy you choose.
Advantages of Family Therapy
The benefits of family therapy for addiction are that they can be involved in each level of care we provide. Having a strong support system at every stage of the addiction treatment process is critical for success. We offer several levels of care:
- Medical Detox: We take responsibility for managing your withdrawal with the greatest possible reduction of discomfort as our main goal. It’s hard for your family to see you in such pain. As the experts, we know how to balance alleviating your immediate pain while also transitioning you to an addiction-free future as seamlessly as possible.
- Drug Addiction Treatment: We know how powerful a substance use or process disorder can be. Your family may have tried everything–tough love, soft touch, etc.– hoping you’d quit cold turkey, but we offer expertise and support to safely and medically make the transition.
- Alcohol Addiction Treatment: Alcohol addiction often runs generationally in families. Whether you were the one doing the “saving” or “protecting,” alcohol dependency can be fellow travelers with domestic violence, workaholism, infidelity, or childhood neglect. We have many different kinds of therapies to help you make sense of your past in constructive ways without turning to alcohol.
- Mental Health Treatment: Mental health is foundational to your well-being as a person. If you grew up in a family that didn’t talk about their emotions or had unhealthy conflict resolution, or a litany of other examples, you might have learned damaging emotional coping mechanisms. We have many therapy options to help you and your family come to terms with any unhealthy dynamics which are negatively affecting your mental health.
- Aftercare: All the other treatments happen in-house, but this one happens once your stay has ended. A case manager will review your journey with us and will help craft a plan for a brighter future of sober living.
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We’re eager to meet you and help you succeed in your recovery journey. Contact us today to start now.
Frequently Asked Questions about Family Addiction Counseling
