Family interventions and substance abuse treatment
Families can play a vital role in rehabilitating an individual battling substance abuse. This is how it’s done.
Substance abuse can have far-reaching consequences for families, affecting both people who are abusing substances and their loved ones who are not. Addiction can be influenced by troubles at home, yet a loving family can also help someone get sober.
It’s no secret that addiction has far-reaching consequences for many communities. More than one in ten children under the age of 18 in South Africa live with at least one adult who has a substance use disorder (SUD), which is a medical disease characterised by the unrestrained use of substances despite the presence of negative consequences.
Fortunately, there are drug rehabilitation centres for substance abuse that provide care for the entire family, not just the addict. Spouses, partners, carers, offspring, kin, and friends can all benefit from these programmes.
Depending on the patient and family dynamics, family therapy programmes take on a variety of forms, but their overarching goal remains the same: to strengthen bonds within the family and provide additional resources for the patient as they work towards recovery.
Therapies, support groups, family days, family retreats, parenting workshops, play therapy for children, and more may all be incorporated into these programmes.
The role of family intervention in addiction recovery
When conducting a family intervention at drug rehabilitation centres, it’s important to think about more than just getting the addict to stop using and enter treatment.
A professional’s guidance can help a family become far more powerful and capable of engaging in productive techniques than one person’s fear-based delusions of control as a substance user running the show alone.
The major motivation for substance abuse is the pursuit of comfort. Those in search of solace may go to any means necessary to experience the euphoric high of their preferred substance or may go to great lengths to avoid or lessen the negative effects of any situation or person in their path.
When members of a family system are at odds with one another and try to solve the problem by employing methods that haven’t worked in the past, it can make the situation much worse.
The purpose of a Family Intervention is to get everyone who is affected by the addict’s behaviour to sit down together and figure out what can be done to get them to see the light.
Understanding family therapy
Whether it’s called “family counselling,” “family therapy,” or something else entirely, it always involves the whole family and always aims to address problems at that level.
There is mounting data suggesting that a person’s chances of completing treatment, overcoming substance abuse, and maintaining sobriety are all increased when they have the support of family and friends.
Each and every kind of relationship can benefit from having a strong support system. One study found that couples who underwent behavioural couples therapy fared better in terms of abstinence and communication than those who underwent the more common individual-based therapy.
Although it’s beneficial for many, having everyone pitch in can be challenging.
Some family members may feel emotionally and psychologically fatigued after coping with a loved one’s substance usage for a long time, and they may be apprehensive of revealing family difficulties with a stranger or afraid of the unknown.
For whatever reason, it may be beneficial to have a family therapist meet separately with each member of the family to discuss their worries. It is possible for family members to participate in therapy depending on their level of motivation and comfort.
