Author: John Carter

Family Therapy for Substance Use Disorders and Addiction Recovery

Parents receive guidance on improving communication, fostering healthy parent-child relationships, and setting appropriate limits. Get professional help from an online addiction and mental health counselor from BetterHelp. For example, studies show that sleep deprivation is linked to a range of social and emotional problems, including depression, anxiety, social withdrawal and lack of motivation.

How Effective Is Family Therapy for Addiction?

Families should continue engaging in family therapy even after their loved one seeks treatment. Each family member is affected differently by someone’s substance use disorder and deserves treatment that focuses on their healing. CRAFT is another contingency management program that lasts about six sessions. The focus is on teaching family members to reward behaviors that lead to treatment engagement and recovery. CRAFT helps family, friends, and social networks leverage their power and influence to motivate someone with an addiction to seek treatment.

How Does Family Therapy Work in Addiction Treatment?

1. If someone in your family has an addiction, the best time to seek help is now.
2. These activities and others like them can make the participant feel happy, preserve a sense of efficacy and worth, and help boost mental health.
3. These services can help spouses, partners, caregivers, children, siblings, and even friends.
4. Many families inadvertently perpetuate their love one’s addiction despite the reluctance to admit it.
5. Stages of FFT include engagement and motivation, behavior change, and generalization.

Involving the entire family in the treatment process helps the family heal alongside the individual in recovery. The goal is to restore the family unit as a cornerstone of support, affection, acceptance, and pride, which are important for long-term addiction recovery. Thankfully, more and more people are turning to family counseling as an evidence-based method of navigating recovery.

Siblings or children can feel forgotten or feel like they have to do better to make up for the addiction, leading to self-esteem issues. By going to a meeting and listening to other family members, feelings of isolation and doubt may begin to fade. Families may also get the skills they need to better handle the interpersonal problems they’re facing. These meetings can help families learn how to deal with a loved one’s addiction. Overall, addiction creates problems for families emotionally, financially, and physically.

It may be wise to seek your own therapy to better understand your role in a loved one’s addiction. Substance abuse is a complex topic, and working with a family therapist can help you navigate your feelings alongside family support. Family therapy is transformative, helping family members understand their role in their loved one’s recovery journey. One of its benefits is providing insights into how you can best support the person with an addiction while avoiding behaviors that may hinder progress.

Connect with understanding peers.

Therapists assist families in setting healthy boundaries with individuals struggling with addiction. Establishing clear boundaries helps protect family members from harm while encouraging the individual to take responsibility for their actions and seek treatment. Family therapy helps family members recognize enabling behaviors that may inadvertently contribute to the addiction cycle. By identifying and addressing these behaviors, families can create a more supportive environment conducive to recovery.

Multidimensional family therapy

Drug and alcohol addiction costs a lot of money, and that can quickly lead to debt and even losing their home. Family members might need to stop working to care for the person struggling, making things financially harder. Family therapy support groups ensure everyone involved remains supportive and encouraging throughout the process.

When our loved ones come face-to-face with the consequences of their actions, that moment of clarity can be a powerful motivator for change. Our efforts to ease their suffering may deprive them of a potentially valuable experience, in effect “enabling” the addiction to continue. If you haven’t already found the right family therapist, be sure to weigh your options with your family.

Family therapy sessions can take time, and it can be tempting to skip a session — particularly for families with a number of conflicting appointments and agendas. However, this work is vital to the mental health of everyone involved, so meetings should be attended whenever possible. Finally, therapists working with families affected by addiction provide education and resources to help families reduce unhelpful behaviors and increase helpful ones. These groups provide access to support services, including education and resources. At AAC, our healthcare providers will work with you to provide treatment and care that works best for you and your family’s needs. Call us at An admissions navigator can discuss treatment options that meet your and your family’s unique needs.

This can be combined with residential treatment for acute cases of substance use disorders. Since family therapy focuses on the healing power of family members, many modalities are tailored towards group interactions. However, that isn’t the case for every type of therapy — family therapists take many factors into account. Family participation in therapy is essential for both the addict’s recovery and the family’s well-being.

Community Reinforcement and Family Therapy (CRAFT)

Not all community services are evidence-based, since many deal with post-addiction families rather than individuals with an active addiction. They are also typically non-accredited recovery groups, including those organized by local families or within places of worship. These diverse approaches aim to address the unique needs of each family, fostering healing, resilience, and growth in the face of a drug or alcohol addiction. SFBT avoids focusing on the past unless previous situations explain current behaviors. It is a forward-focused model with specific steps for creating and envisioning goals and then setting steps to achieve those goals. It changes the mindsets of individuals and family members from thinking there is no hope of change to achieving change.