This post is about how Addiction Affects The Family and the 7 Most Serious Impacts it has on your family. Addiction does not only affect the individual who is suffering from addiction but also their family.
Just the way family plays a vital role in the addiction recovery process; it also suffers the negative consequences of any type of substance abuse. This is why our Houston rehabilitation center treats all kinds of alcohol and drug addictions and includes family therapy in the treatment procedure.
Substance abuse or addiction always affects several different aspects of a person’s life. One of them is ruining relationships with their loved ones. It is difficult to see your loved one changing gradually under the influence of harmful substances.
When an individual develops a dependency on a particular substance, they put their addiction before anything else and anyone else. As a result, the family members and loved ones also start to suffer from mental trauma.
7 Most Serious Impact Of Addiction On Family
Here in this article, we will talk about the most serious impact of addiction on a family. In case you are struggling with addiction and looking for a motivation to quit, knowing these effects and what your family is actually going through will give you the much-needed push for Addiction treatment.
Effect No. 1: Impact On Children
Just place yourself in the shoes of your children. When they see the parents of other children spending time with them and having a fun time, they are all involved in their addiction.
Children always need special care and attention from their parents; when they do not get that, they might develop serious emotional health issues.
In some cases, they might also get influenced, and after reaching a certain age, they also can develop an addiction to any substance just to escape from the difficult situation they might have created with their addiction. In short, the addiction of parents can ruin the childhood of their children.
Recognizing these impacts highlights the urgency of seeking professional help. For California families grappling with these realities, a high quality rehab center in San Jose can offer a beacon of hope. Such facilities not only focus on the individual’s recovery but also prioritize family healing, providing resources and support to mend the fractured relationships caused by addiction.
Effect No. 2: Financial Problems
We do not think we need to mention this separately. For an individual, who is suffering from addiction, their addiction becomes the most important to them. They might start to stop going to work. At the same time, addictive substances are pretty expensive.
As a result and financial crisis develops. It affects the entire family. Your family might end up starving just because the addicted individual has appended the last penny on buying the substance they have become addicted to.
Effect No. 3: Increased Stress
Addiction and stress are like best friends. Stress can lead to addiction. Also, addiction can lead to stress. When we are saying addiction invites stress, it is not only applicable to the addicted person but to the entire family.
Your parents, spouse, siblings, and children will never want you to come home high like a kite. Seeing you can not stand on your feet and completely pass out in bed with your shoes and bag on is definitely going to make them feel stressed.
Effect No. 4: Loss Of Trust
Bonding and trust are the things that connect each one with the other within a family. Your parents and spouse always trust you that you will always put them first no matter what; you will do anything for their betterment.
Your siblings and children also depend a lot on you and think that you will be their savior for them. But when you suffer from addiction and put your addiction first before anyone else, they feel heartbroken. You lose their trust at that moment, and getting it back becomes really difficult.
Effect No. 5: Fear And Confusion
Addiction usually makes the behavior of an individual unpredictable. The family members can never understand or know how the addiction victim is going to behave or react to something.
To avoid both emotional and physical abuse, the family members might start to walk on eggshells. Children eventually become more reserved because of the fear of upsetting the individual. Everything ends with fear and confusion, which means that the household rarely has joy.
Effect No. 6: Physical And Emotional Abuse
Addiction not only makes the victim irrational but also puts their loved ones on edge. It means a simple disagreement could result in a big fight as everyone will feel misunderstood. When everyone is acting out of character, physical abuse might take place.
Children of the addicted individual may also end up becoming abusers as well. To blame their addicted parents, they can act out and start misbehaving. All these actions might cause them to turn to drug abuse or drinking.
Effect No. 7: Siblings And Parents Feel Embarrassed
Our society considers addiction as a bad habit; they always blame the victim for developing an addiction. However, the addicted individuals do not have full control over their addictive behavior. Along with blaming the individual, society also questions the upbringing of their parents.
Many rumors start to hover in the neighborhood, school, or workplaces of the individual. Often the siblings and parents are forced to listen to embarrassing comments and misleading behaviors of others.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
To clear your understanding and knowledge about the effects of addiction on the family, here we are answering some of the common questions.
Q1: How Does Addiction Affect You And Your Family?
In the above section, we have already discussed the effects addiction brings to the family of an addiction victim. Most of the time, the family members feel overwhelmed and blame themselves. They also feel loneliness, embarrassment, and fear.
Q2: How Does Drug Use Affect Family And Friends?
Drug or alcohol use often might emotionally, mentally, and physically affect the friends and family members of the victim.
Being a family or friend of the addiction victim, you might feel guilt, anger, self-blame, grief, disappointment, rejection, shame, denial, depression, and anxiety.
Stay Sober, Stay Happy
From the above discussion, we can say that along with hampering the physical, mental, and emotional health of the addiction victim, the addictive behavior of the individual also affects everyone in their family. Addiction can ruin the lives of your loved ones along with others.
So it is time to get help and start your sober life. You can get everything back; you just need to decide to quit substance abuse and enroll yourself in an addiction recovery treatment program.
I hope my article on the 7 Most Serious Impact Of Addiction On Family has helped you in some way. Feel free to leave me a comment below!