Family Perspective On Substance Abuse

For this paper, I am focusing on two models; the Family Disease Model and the Multisystemic Family Therapy Model (MSFT). The Family Disease Model is based on the concept that addiction is a disease, and that this disease affects the whole household. Family members who are not addicted may become codependent on the addict for their emotional or material support. This model aims to treat the entire family by approaching addiction as a condition that can be addressed through modifications in behavior or environment. Family therapy in substance abuse treatment has two main purposes. First, it seeks to use the family’s strengths and resources to develop ways to live without substances of abuse. Second, it ameliorates the impact of chemical dependency on both the Identified Patient and the family. The person abusing substances is regarded as a subsystem within the family unit. Relationships within this subsystem are the points of therapeutic interest and intervention. The therapist facilitates discussions and problem-solving sessions, often with the entire family group or subgroups, but sometimes with a single participant, who may or may not be the person with the substance use disorder.

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

Growing up in the household under substances influence can cause severe damage to the child. Parental substance abuse has a significant impact on family function, and it may also contribute to child maltreatment. It heightens the risks to both of the physical and emotional safety of the children, and it generates children’s problematic outcomes. Children who grow up in such families may also experience mental health issues, social isolation, financial difficulties, and exposure to stressful life events and so on.

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

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

It is important to understand the complex role that families can play in substance abuse treatment. They can be a source of help to the treatment process, but they also must manage the consequences of the IP’s addictive behavior. Individual family members are concerned about the IP’s substance abuse, but they also have their own goals and issues. Providing services to the whole family can improve treatment effectiveness. Meeting the challenge of working together will call for mutual understanding, flexibility, and adjustments among the substance abuse treatment provider, family therapist, and family. This shift will require a stronger focus on the systemic interactions of families. Many divergent practices must be reconciled if family therapy

Addiction is a disease that not only affects the person with the addiction but the family as well. The children that grow up in this environment take on different roles in their family to try and cope with their environment. According to American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, there is an estimate of 26.8 million children that are exposed to alcoholism in the family (2015). As these children grow up they develop many common characteristics into adulthood. These characteristics have a lasting impact on their lives.

It was a calamitous knock, a knock that brought with it the worst of news that commenced a series of devastating events to follow for years to come. This knock arrived at our door at 5:00 a.m. one morning and it was my brother, Andrew. He refused to reveal the contents of his night, but in his insensible stupor he incessantly demanded for our help in finding his lost car, keys, phone, and wallet. After hours of much endeavor from each family member, Andrew’s car was discovered in a ditch with a blown out tire, his keys in another city miles away from the crash scene, and his wallet and phone were never recovered. My brother’s desperate knock and our cautious opening of the door revealed that Andrew’s misfortunes of that night had derived from the abuse of methamphetamine. This event remains in my mind as the initial incident that began our continuous familial struggle over the past five years.

In reading chapters eight and nine of the textbook “Substance abuse and the Family” I found a couple of things that caught my interest. In chapter eight it examines the issues in substance abusing families the forms of power and control placed over the children and the partner who is not taking substances or drinking alcohol. Many times when we hear the term domestic violence our minds immediately go to physical abuse but it can take on other forms of abuse such as sexual, psychological, emotion and economic. The power and control wheel on page 115 really helped me to gain more knowledge on how a person gains power and control over there partner. The eight pathways inside of the wheel demonstrate how easy and often these situations take place

Substance abuse is one of the most serious issues between children and families. Understanding the relationship between parental substance abusers and the abusers children is critical in determining the long term effects on the child. Evaluating the numerous negative impacts caused by the substance abusing parent/parents is vital in uncovering how the child will establish themselves into society. By providing enhanced assessments of at risk families as well as creating improved intervention and prevention strategies the potential of success is hopeful.

The topic that will be discussed in the following paper will focus on the issues of addiction; in specific, substance abuse and smoking, and how it affects family relationships. Living with someone who struggles with substance abuse is a very difficult battle amongst many families worldwide. When we were brought into this world, we were not born with a set of values and expectations, but rather, that is something that we learnt over our years of development. Primarily, we spend most of our time with our families, who are the ones that influence our values and expectations for ourselves the most. During our child and youth years, we are very impressionable, where we spend most, if not all our time with our family members. We adapt to these rules by watching and observing everything they do, and learn what is right and what is wrong. If our parents are religious, we grow up and take on those beliefs. If our parents smoke, drink, and do drugs, that can become something a child adapts to as well. The nature vs. nurture debate can relate to this issue, as what molds our behaviors more? Our genes and genetics, or environmental impacts? In a lot of cases, the interactions and experiences we have in our environments have a very large impact on ourselves and individuals, but also, our genes, mental health, family and social environment all play a role in addiction too (Saisan, Smith, Robinson, 2015). Substance and drug abuse is something that affects a family both short term and long

I am Mrs. Sherri Colvin Edwards I have been in the field of Substance Abuse for more than 22 years. I am License Chemical Dependence Counselor (LCDC). I have a Bachelor of Sciences in Human Services that I receive in 2014 from Springfield College. I am currently working on my Master of Sciences schedule to be completed in August 2016 from Springfield College my concentration is Mental Health Counseling. My passion has always been working with adolescents and their family and the community at large. Substance abuse effects the entire family and can cause on the family to have broken relationships.

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

To begin with, substance and addiction disorders has become an epidemic in society today, affecting family, work ethics, relationships, and values. The family system, broken in many ways and the results can be catastrophic or damaging to a family unit. To clarify, substance and addiction disorders onset crimes against family members/communities, child abuse, sexual misconduct domestic violence, prostitution, minor crimes, and behavior problems difficult for individuals to handle. Another key point, stages of addiction within the family system is denial, home treatment, chaos, and loss of control. “The belief of the family system is that addiction problems are the results of negative behaviors, dysfunctions or pathology namely the female spouse as the blame” (Copello, Templeton, Orford, & Velleman, 2010, pg.100).

The effects of substance abuse in society are easily visible but what of the effects it causes to the individual, and the family? How do substance abusers become addicted and what are the ways families support their behavior? In this essay I will be going over the main causes of substance abuse and the change it has on the abuser, and the ways families support the behaviors of the user will being damaged by their use. As defined by the World Health Organization substance abuse is “the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs.” Or when the use of substances becomes dangerous to the user and those around them.