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Family Involvement in Substance Abuse Treatment

Addiction creates a number of difficulties for a family. Family members often try to help their addicted loved ones through practices that increase the addict's tendencies to continue his or her addiction, rather than reduce the addictive behavior. Because family members look to one another for guidance, assistance and support, education and involvement of family members within the addiction treatment process is of major importance to the recovery of the addict.

  1. Benefits

    • According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), social and family support are strongly related to reduction of relapse symptoms and behavior, in recovering addiction clients. Research shows family involvement is crucial to successful addiction treatment outcomes and produces many related benefits. Likewise, those who do not have family support are more likely to relapse.

    Compliance

    • Family involvement can promote the addict's compliance to treatment during times of little or no motivation on the part of the client. Family encouragement and confrontation can serve to keep the addicted family member in treatment long enough for the habits related to the new drug-free life to become sustained elements of daily life. Family members can warn the recovering individual of oncoming relapse and encourage compliance with treatment program requirements.

    Self Expression

    • Often family members of addicted persons experience fear, anger, resentment and mistrust of the addicted individual, even after he or she has entered a recovery program. Family involvement within the treatment process enables family members to express their feelings about the addiction and related behaviors. They can also make suggestions to the counselor and client and express their concerns. Family members are often the first to recognize potential problems and relapse symptoms, so their input is crucial to the treatment of the individual addict.

    Penetrating Denial

    • Family members, by relating details of the recovering person's behavior while using alcohol or drugs, can assist the client in breaking through the denial that is common to addictive disease. Painful realizations of the seriousness of his or her addiction, as well as how it has hurt and affected others, can work to promote a sincere desire to remain drug-free early in treatment.

    Support

    • Family involvement within the addiction process also offers support for both the client and his or her family and the treatment professional. All are educated about the disease of addiction, the particular drug(s) involved, the danger of enabling the addictive behavior, the signs and symptoms of relapse and how to best avoid the relapse process.
      Family members learn how to focus on their own needs, rather than only on the addict's behavior, and how to take care of themselves. Family members who also have problems with their own addiction, or mental health issues, receive encouragement in dealing with their own problems and may receive referrals to appropriate facilities through the treatment team.

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