Family Structure And Substance Abuse

Many participants engaged the group with stories of overcoming addiction or being sexually molested by family members as reasons behind their addiction. However all of their stories were compelling and empowering to the group of individuals who have seemed to endure some of the same sentiments as their fellow group mate. It appeared as if the individuals in the group even though that were court ordered appeared to be extremely engaged and very involved during the meetings. It seemed as though most who attended found peace and solice from the group during the NA meetings. As it stated by Krentzman, Robinson, Moore, et.al (2010), client’s state that their top two reasons for attending NA meetings were to promote recovery/ sobriety and to find support acceptance and friendships. One thing that I learned from the NA group that just as in AA, family support deems to be an important function on the perseverance of an addict and that the participation and involvement of family is detrimental in the treatment process for the addicts. In several of our readings many of the passages discussed the effects of family systems support as it pertains to substance abusers chemical addiction. The passages described the family system as being a detrimental part of the treatment process as well as for the treatment of the family as well. According to past studies, family involvement has aided clients in

Gruber, K.J., & Taylor M.F. (2006). A family perspective for substance abuse: Implications from the literature. Journal of Social

Drug and chemical abuse affect many families and that particular family that lives through a loved one who is an addict and the priority is to get help for the individual. In any intervention that involves drug addicts, a family's disposition is very important. Full recovery of any drug addict involves the restoration of the person's life as well as ensuring that those who are around the addict have the best ability when it comes to helping with abstinence which is a long-term goal. Abusers are often in denial or even believe that they are totally in control of their use of drugs

One thing to understand when dealing with addictions within the family system is that there are many different types of families from nuclear, single parent, same sex etc.., and the effects that addiction has varies within these different family system. There is no one way of creating or approaching a set treatment plan. Therefore it is imperative that the addiction counselor or worker complete a thorough assessments and evaluations of the family in order to create a individualize therapy, recovery and continued after treatment care. Through initial assessments information that may be key to a successful treatment plan for the addict can be ascertained. Issues that can be counteractive to overall treatment goals such as the economic,

Drug abuse is thought to be a multidetermined, maladaptive way of coping with life problems that often become habitual and leads to a progressive deterioration in life circumstances. Drug abuse is a disease in its own way. It’s damaging, mentally, physically and emotionally with each party involved. When it comes to each party involved that also means family members as well. Youth will find a way to but some sort of blame of the family for their drug addiction. Family members can be a crucial part or a great aspect of the therapy depending the situation or how important that family member plays a role in their life. Family plays an important role in our emotional development since each individual in the family system impacts and its impacted by the others. Its design to address issues that affect the health of family and the addict’s life transition or mental health conditions.

Although all sorts of families can be devastated by addiction, but single parent units (the most common lower class structure) are the most obscured. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches supports, “In every family unit, each person plays a role (or multiple roles) to help the family function better and to maintain a level of homeostasis, stability and balance. When substance abuse is added to this dynamic, the family roles naturally shift to adjust to the new behaviors associated with drug or alcohol use, and to continue maintaining order and balance.”4 In single parent units there is an inability of a second parent to fill the void role of the addicted parent. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states, “Frequently, children may act as surrogate spouses for the parent who abuses substances. For example, [young] children may develop elaborate systems of denial to protect themselves against that reality of the parent’s addiction. Because that option does not exist in a single‐parent household with a parent who abuses substances, children are likely to behave in a manner that is not age‐appropriate to compensate for the parental deficiency.”2 So a child growing up in a compromised family unit where addiction is present may develop altered norms and mature into an addict themselves.4

This results in unhealthy roles in the family being developed in order to compensate in various ways for how the addiction gets played out in the family. These roles can have an enduring quality and may not quickly change when the alcoholic or addict gets into recovery. The spouse and family have to examine their roles and agendas. It is easy for the alcoholic or drug addict to regress into old addictive patters if the co-dependent doesn’t change. Co-dependency groups and Alanon are important for the family’s recovery, and by extension, helpful for the alcoholic and drug

When an individual has a disorder with substance abuse and how family is involved, it can be a very uncomfortable situation for both the abuser and family members. When the abuser is an adolescent, the program may need consent from the adolescent before communicating with the parent, whether the communication is over the course of counseling or a one time communication (TIP 31). Both drugs and alcohol affects both sides because an addiction will create problems with communication. When one seeks help for his or her addiction, the entire family should be involved if

Addiction is not an individual problem but something that affects the whole family. Stevens and Smith (2013) state that families will “readjust to redistributing responsibilities to accommodate the user” (pp. 247-248). Children learn to adapt to their dysfunctional family, including taking more responsibilities on when their parent cannot because of their addiction. Families need to be included in treatment so that they can learn positive ways to help their family member without enabling them. The Bible states in Ecclesiastes 4:9 “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed” (New Living Translation). God designed humans to need each other that is why he created Eve as Adam’s helpmate. Having a support system

Drug addiction is a serious issue in not only America today, but globally. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, substance addiction is a “chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite the harmful consequences” (“What is drug addiction?”). Drug abuse affects not only the user, but those around the user as well. The actions of a drug user place a significant amount of worry on the people that are closest to them such as friends and family. Children with parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol can be severely affected by the actions of their parents which can cause them much harm in terms of biological and

As a recovering addict I know firsthand how my addiction affected my family. Addiction to alcohol or drugs is a disease; it affects everyone in the family, not just the substance abuser.

Our group worked as a team and narrowed it down to two papers, however we came to a group decision to choose the final paper as it met the criteria and it was easy to understand. We choose the paper as we discussed as a group the different area’s we had experience in and came to a majority decision that the vast majority of us had either worked with children or had experience in the drugs and alcohol sector. We used Google Scholar to locate the article – we entered “How substance abuse affects children in families” and “The effects of parental drug misuse affecting families”. This piece of research includes primary research as qualitative interviews were taking place as part of conducting the research. The article is a UK based paper that was conducted in 2010.

It is well known that a parent with a drug or alcohol problem can have a negative effect on their family members. You could say that the person with the problem is like someone stuck in a bog. The other family members, in their efforts to help, often get pulled down into the bog too. The first step in putting things right is when the others start to get their own feet on solid ground. Only after they have done this will they be able to help tackle the addiction problem.

An insight of the impact of illegal substance abuse using theories of intelligent sociologist of the nineteenth century to magnify the effect of drugs and families today. Examining how inversely affecting relatives growing in diverse family structures while, exploring its overall effect on children who live in mechanical solidarities versus organic solidarities differences in drug use and outcome of children . Moreover, involving detailed fluctuations of familiar illegal drug use between the years of the 1970 then, evolving into the twenty first century exploiting the social dynamics of the misuse of illegal drugs. As well as meeting the manifest consequence and latent consequence of drug abuse in families. Resulting in the

To begin with, illicit drug abuse has been implicated in disintegration of many families (Visser 1). Notably, the addicts are often restless and violent. As such, they are hardly able to engage other family members in constructive discussions. Moreover, the addicts are hardly able to contribute to the economic stability of the family. In cases where the addicts are employed, most of their