How does the family influence in giving support to the addicted person?

Addictions are disorders that globally affect a person's life, undermining their well-being both physical and emotional and progressively destroying their relationships both socially and emotionally. family. But the reality of addictive disorders goes beyond the individual people who suffer from them, and often involves the family, for better or worse.

Research in the fields of psychology and medicine has shown that the action of the family before the person who presents any type of addiction can have a very significant therapeutic value; however, in other cases, the family can have a negative effect on the person, including encouraging addictive behavior in that person.

• Related article: "The 14 most important types of addictions"

Possible negative effects of family influence on the person with addiction

There are a series of possible negative effects that the family can have on the person who suffers addiction if these people do not adequately adapt to the needs of their relative in a state vulnerable. Let's see the most important.

1. Stigmatization

A common phenomenon in cases of addiction is the stigmatization by the family towards the person who presents the addictive behavior, something that It has a truly harmful effect on your mental health and helps you maintain your harmful habit..

Mainly, because it leads the sick person to feel worse and to feel greater impulses to escape from reality through the action of satiating the "monkey" of addiction. In addition, it predisposes her to adopt a defensive attitude and to reaffirm her habits that are harmful to health, as if they were a sign of his identity in front of others.

On the other hand, with the stigmatization of her addiction, the affected person feels alienated and will eventually assume that they are not in control. enough of the situation necessary to be able to stop using it, something that contributes to her demotivation and leads her to abandon therapy.

• You may be interested: "The stigmatization of people with psychiatric diagnoses"

2. Denial

The denial of the addictive disorder, keeping it as a taboo subject, is a common phenomenon both in the addict and in her family and generally occurs in family environments in which they do not want to talk about their relative's problems in a natural way and in the long run it becomes a "forbidden" topic.

This type of denial dynamics is put into practice in families who want to keep up appearances abroad, pretending that everything is going well and that there is no such problem.

• Related article: "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): principles and characteristics"

3. Concealment

The cover-up of criminal actions linked to the maintenance of addiction (for example, stealing) by family members is also produced by the will to deny that an addictive disorder exists, although in the long run it is also a dynamic that appears after a long period of struggle to help the family member who presents this issue.

Covering up the problem does not help the addicted person at all, since it aggravates her behavior with the time, makes the family members who exercise it accomplices and makes them feel very guilty.

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4. Overprotection

The excessive overprotection and complacency exercised by the family of a person with an addictive disorder also contributes to the maintenance of her addiction and makes it more difficult to start on the road to recovery, since there is no incentive to do so.

In addition to that, this complacency with the addicted person allows him to remain in the role of sick and not progress, since he is in a comfortable situation in which he has the connivance of his relatives.

5. emotional closure

Blocking and emotional closure is the phenomenon by which the relatives of the addicted person refuse to express any of the emotions caused by the situation they are experiencing.

This absence in the expression of negative emotions is often related to a posture of concealment and denial of the problem, and end up generating emotional problems in the relatives themselves, as repress everything they feel.

• Related article: "Emotional management: 10 keys to dominate your emotions"

Possible positive effects of family influence on the person with addiction

As mentioned at the beginning, the family of a person with addiction can provide positive support of great therapeutic value; the most common cases are the following.

1. Show support to motivate and encourage

Having your family nearby, in constant support, as a motivating element, is of great help for people who present cases of addiction, since it contributes to mitigate stress and anxiety and serves to better cope with withdrawal syndrome, disorders that greatly predispose to relapses in the consumption of drugs.

Having a clear goal allows you to focus on it and not let discomfort invade the mind of the person with the disorder.. In addition, this decreases the chances that the patient will abandon treatment, so it is important that family members take an interest in their progress and show their satisfaction and appreciation for the small victories of the person with addiction.

The family can also help by motivating the person, thus increasing her self-esteem, by taking an interest periodically by her advances and encouraging her at all times not to give up in her attempt to be cured

• You may be interested: "Types of motivation: the 8 motivational sources"

2. help emotionally

Addictive disorders have an affectation as emotional as physical in the people who suffer from it, that is why having a family that offers their listening and empathy, these people they will be more capable when it comes to rehabilitating themselves. In this sense, the fact that the person with addiction has people who listen to them and with whom they can "vent" helps. much to overcome crises, since it serves to relieve internal tensions and to organize ideas and stop avoiding thinking about what worries.

It is important for the family to openly show their support for a family member who has this type of problem and to offer their understanding and relief at all times in times of crisis.

3. Promote healthy social relationships to avoid relapses

In cases of addiction, the family can also introduce new friends to the person going through a rehabilitation process, thus promoting a new social fabric of healthy relationships away from contexts of drug use, bets, etc

This is very supportive, since as has been mentioned, addictive disorders are usually tremendously destructive with the healthy social relationships that the person has when they start their addiction.

Looking for addiction treatment?

If you are looking for professional help to overcome a case of addiction, in Seville Addiction Center you will find the team of professionals you are looking for.

We serve you from outpatient care and comprehensive treatment through admissions, both for drug addiction and behavioral addictions.