Since 2000, there have been more than 700,000 overdoses due to substance abuse. Most who try to get help do so on their own. And only in the last stages of their disease do they reach out to professionals working in addiction treatment facilities. These addiction treatment facilities usually can provide family therapy which will help mend the wounds that have been opened during a loved ones drug and alcohol addiction.
Many of these professionals are in the medical field, such as drug counselors and psychiatrists. The more recent definition of addiction, though, sees it as a social issue. This is why family therapy for addiction treatment in Massachusetts has become an important part of addiction treatment.
How can a family make the most of family systems therapy? Keep reading for a full guide to family therapy for drug rehab, how it works, and why it’s so helpful for helping the whole family.
What Is Family Therapy?
Family therapy is when someone in drug rehab gathers with their counselor and family to work through their issues. It’s essential to work through these issues. For some people, their family can serve as a trigger that influences them to seek comfort in substance use.
After someone has completed alcohol detox or drug detox, they’ll speak with their care coordinator. The care coordinator will detail the next steps in their treatment plan. As the care coordinator discusses the treatment plan, structural family therapy is often a part of it.
Family therapy is needed because addiction affects not only the person that’s using it but also their family members in several ways. These ways include:
- Causes negative emotions
- Breakdown of communication
- Overstepping of boundaries
- Safety of family members
It’s not uncommon for the family members of someone struggling with addiction to feel a number of negative emotions towards them. These emotions can range from anxiety over not knowing if the person that’s addicted is alive to downright anger.
Another side effect of having a family member that struggles with addiction is the lack of positive communication. Most interactions between family members and the one addicted are limited, and if they begin positively, they often take a turn.
The structure is also lacking in family units when someone struggles with addiction. It’s hard to maintain structure when someone is unpredictable and constantly overstepping other people’s boundaries.
The Benefits of Family Therapy
Your family should understand several benefits of family therapy before pursuing it. The first benefit is that it allows a person’s family to take an active role in their addiction treatment.
It can also serve as one of the motivating factors to keep someone in treatment when they want to leave. Family therapy provides a safe atmosphere for families to discuss issues and allows for problems such as mental health to be addressed.
Family therapy is where families can learn strategies that will help in the future when it comes to setting boundaries and maintaining them. When people are able to work out problems with their families, it can help to increase the chances of them succeeding in their recovery journey.
Issues Identified During Family Therapy
Several behaviors identified during family therapy are beneficial. This is because breaking this destructive behavior is challenging when family members are dealing with someone struggling with addiction. It can also be hard to overcome. Codependency is a typical destructive pattern exhibited by members of families that have loved ones struggling with addiction.
Codependency is when someone is so consumed thinking about another person that they neglect their own needs. For example, when someone is in the midst of addiction, codependent behavior is when a family member, such as their mother, spends a significant amount of time worrying about them.
It could also be when a family member denies an issue at all and avoids situations where talking about a person’s addiction would come up. Another issue addressed by family therapy is enabling.
Enabling or behaviors related to it support the behaviors and actions of someone that is dealing with addiction. Enabling behavior includes but is not limited to:
- Providing a place for someone to lay their head
- Providing money when asked
- Feeling guilty about the circumstances a person has found themselves in
- Justifying substance abuse behaviors
These behaviors must be identified, and families learn to change them. If they remain unchanged, the person in addiction treatment will return home to the same destructive environment.
This environment can cause them to struggle during their recovery.
Different Types Therapy in Addiction Treatment
There are several types of addiction therapy in Massachusetts, and your addiction treatment therapist will work with your family to determine which is the best fit. There are two types of therapy for your family, including individual and group therapy.
There might be times when you’re working with your entire family in therapy. And other times when you find yourself sitting in a therapy session alone with the person in addiction treatment. It makes it easier for two people to communicate during individual sessions versus in larger groups.
So How Can This Help Someone in Addiction Treatment In Massachsuetts?
Family therapy is an integral part of the addiction treatment process in Massachusetts. It provides families an environment to work out the problems that have contributed to their loved ones’ addiction.
The benefits of addiction treatment herapy are numerous but require work on both sides of the family to improve how they interact with each other. Are you ready to enter family therapy and improve the current nature of your family?
Contact Mayflower Recovery today and get the family the help they need to turn over a new leaf. We have the experts your loved one needs to focus on their sobriety and take back control of their life.
