Family plays an important role in our spiritual, intellectual, and emotional development.
Each family has its unique problems and its own way of communicating–or not communicating–with the other members. Although the nuclear family has changed over the years, everyone is brought up in some sort of family unit. Within family units, even when one person is having a bad day, all of the others are affected. When a member is struggling with an addiction problem, everyone around them suffers, too. This is why family therapy can be beneficial.
Family therapy is often used in conjunction with treating an individual’s problem, such as addiction, divorce, or behavioral problems. In family therapy, the unit of treatment is the family, and the person abusing substances is regarded as part of the sub-system. As in any system, all things are interconnected. Instead of addressing problems solely on an individual basis, family counseling recognizes that individual problems within the system affect other members of the family, so the solution is to involve all members in therapy. The goal of family therapy is to meet the needs of all of the members in the family. When the family functions better as a whole, each individual within the system does better.
Family therapy may be helpful in the following situations:
- Preparing for divorce
- Preparing for a remarriage
- Dealing with death
- Dealing with one or more of the member’s mental or behavioral issues
Family counseling helps families to:
- Learn their strengths and weaknesses
- Learn better ways to communicate feelings and how to be honest with each other
- Learn ways to resolve issues
- Resolve sibling issues
- Gain better parent-child communication
- Gain clear perspective of how a family functions, and each person’s role
- Discuss feelings about particular issues that the family has been dealing with and come to solutions
Studies have shown that most people who struggle with addiction problems started acting out when they were adolescents. At this point in an individual’s life, family is the backbone for their existence. Teens begin experimenting for all kinds of reasons, but many of the reasons fall back on how they feel about what is going on within their family unit. This is why family therapy can be very helpful. Just as a person’s negative behavior affects the entire family, a person’s positive behavior affects the family, too. Someone in early addiction recovery may need to focus on themselves for while until they feel more stable. This may make other family members feel neglected; they may also feel like they’re supposed to forgive and forget all of the bad experiences prior to their loved one’s recovery. That’s why family therapy can be so crucial: it helps all members learn how to ask for what they need, express their feelings, and support each other.
If your family is struggling, do not feel alone. No family is perfect. Getting into counseling can only make your family stronger. Please contact us today at (770) 202-2212 to learn how our rehab facilities near Atlanta can help.
