Self-stigma can make you think you are not deserving of support, love, and community on your recovery journey. As noted in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, addiction is often accompanied by a sense of shame or self-stigmatization. Feeling like you have failed to live up to normative standards leads to negative self-regarding attitudes like shame and guilt. If you feel overwhelmed by guilt and shame, you may think you have to go through treatment and recovery alone. However, a healthy and mutually supportive network is an integral part of positive well-being and effective recovery. Thus, family-focused care can be a deeply rewarding and healing path for you and your loved ones.
Understandably, you may have difficulty imagining a world where you ask or lean on your loved ones for support. It can feel impossible to let go of the memories of the stress your challenges have brought to your family. You may think your loved ones are tired of you or that you cannot drag them further into chaos. As stated in “Managing Shame and Guilt in Addiction: A Pathway to Recovery” by Anke Snoek et al., both guilt and shame emotions are triggered by internal perceptions of transgressions.
Feelings of guilt arise from your belief that you have violated socially endorsed norms or principles. Guilt is a social other-directed emotion in which you are concerned about how your behavior impacts others. Meanwhile, feelings of shame arise from your belief that you have violated your values or ideals. Shame is tied more to your concern about how others view you. Addiction can give you a deep negative perception of yourself and how others perceive you.
At Rancho Recovery, we recognize the value of having family members be a part of the recovery process. Every relationship is different, but a strong support system promotes healthier behaviors and a sense of belonging. No matter where you are on your recovery journey, we are here to give you the tools you need to thrive.
With substance abuse treatment near you, you have access to holistic care to treat the whole family. Through our mission to provide comprehensive and luxury rehab treatment, you can find the right path to recovery. Here at Rancho Recovery, family and family-focused care is a core part of our commitment to addressing your individual needs for healing.
Now you may still have questions about how family-focused care can support your recovery. What does family-focused care mean, or what will family-focused care look like for you and your family? First, increasing your and your loved ones’ awareness of substance use disorder (SUD) will give you a foundation for recovery. You can foster a foundation where rebuilding those connections with your loved ones becomes possible. Together, you and your loved ones can better recognize the roots of your distress to help the whole family heal.
Understanding Substance Use Disorder
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 40.3 million or 14.5% of people 12 and older in the United States have SUD. Moreover, as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) notes, 9.2 million adults in the U.S. experience challenges with co-occurring disorders. Noting the prevalence of SUD and other co-occurring mental health disorders is a reminder that you are not a failure or alone in your challenges. Moreover, the prevalence of addiction highlights the need for access to information and services like family-focused care to support recovery.
The challenges of SUD and co-occurring disorders are a reflection of unhealthy coping strategies. You may utilize unhealthy coping strategies like substance misuse to alleviate or suppress distress. As the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) states, SUD is a mental disorder that changes your brain and behavior. The brain changes from SUD further impair your ability to function in your daily life and your impulse control. Thus, the more you misuse substances, the more difficult it becomes to break the addictive cycle on your own.
Now, you and or your loved ones may be surprised to learn that SUD is a mental health condition. Addiction stigma engages in negative attitudes and stereotypes that often place the blame for addiction squarely on your shoulders. The mental health nature of SUD does not absolve you from accountability for any harm you have done to others. However, SUD, as a mental health condition, acknowledges the challenges that have impeded your ability to make healthy choices. Your difficulties with addiction are not a reflection of poor character or a lack of willpower. In reality, addiction is a reflection of challenges with maladaptive thinking and behavior patterns.
When you feel overwhelmed by life stressors, it can become easier to seek out and self-medicate with substances. Yet, you may question why you or others gravitate to substance use to cope while other people do not. There are a variety of risk factors, including untreated mental health challenges, that can contribute to unhealthy coping skills. Therefore, through services that incorporate educational tools like family-focused care, you and your loved ones can increase your awareness and understanding of SUD. Moreover, with individualized support and family-focused care, you and your loved ones can understand the roots of your challenges to support breaking down those unhealthy patterns.
Risk Factors for SUD
According to Cureus, SUD increases your risk for a lower quality of life, from psychological and physical to social, educational, and functional impairments. Thus, understanding the risk factors that can contribute to substance misuse and SUD can help you recognize the roots of your distress and negative thoughts and behaviors. Listed below are some of the risk factors for SUD and co-occurring disorders:
- History of abuse and neglect in childhood
- Sexual, physical, and emotional abuse
- Physical and emotional neglect
- Lack of parental monitoring
- Parental rejection
- Loss of family support
- Rejection of sexual orientation and or gender identity
- Family history of substance misuse and SUD
- Exposure to substance misuse in the household
- Parental SUD
- Genetically predispose
- Untreated parental mental health disorders
- Additional individual age group risk factors
- Children and adolescents under the age of 18
- To try a new experience
- For adventure
- Interpersonal trauma
- Ethnicity and gender barriers
- Socioeconomic status
- Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25
- Academic stress
- Long-term prescription medication use after an injury/surgery
- Sports injury
- Close relationship conflict
- Family
- Romantic partners
- Adults between the ages of 26 and 64
- Balancing job and family life
- High-stress jobs
- Major life challenges
- Loss of a loved one
- Experiencing grief
- Balancing job and family life
- 65 years and older
- Frequent experiences with grief
- Social isolation
- Chronic illnesses
- Children and adolescents under the age of 18
- Peer risk factors
- Influenced by peers
- Pressured or encouraged by peers to smoke and drink alcohol when socializing
- Environmental risk factors in childhood and adolescents
- Hanging out with people who use legal and or illicit substances
- Parents education level
- Parental connectedness
- Chronic stress and trauma
- Age of consumption and abuse
- Starting substance use before adolescence increases the risk for abuse in adulthood
- Prescription and over-the-counter medicine (OTC) misuse
- Lack of supervision on OTC usage
- Co-occurring disorders
- Untreated mental health disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Borderline personality disorder (BPD)
- Antisocial personality disorder
- Attention-deficit/hyperactive disorders (ADHD)
- Anxiety disorders
- Untreated mental health disorders
Looking at the different risk factors for developing SUD gives you insight into the life experiences that may have contributed to your challenges. With more insight, you open the door for you and your loved ones to address the impact your challenges have had on the family. The thought of discussing the relationship and impact of your SUD on the family may feel daunting. However, with personalized support in family-focused care, you can work together to understand each other and your needs with more clarity.
The Impact of SUD on Family Well-Being
In “Family Members of Adults with Substance Abuse Problems” from the American Psychiatry Association (APA), some early theories and treatment programs sought out ways to cast blame for addictive problems. The family often became the source of all blame, with little regard for the complexity of family systems. Later theories have expanded to acknowledge the stress and considerable change that happens when addiction enters a family. Addiction does not only affect the individual with SUD but also has a profound impact on the family as a whole.
According to Social Work in Public Health, the family is still the primary source of attachment, nurturing, and socialization for people. Each family member plays a unique role in each other’s lives and can have a direct impact on each other’s physical and psychological well-being. Listed below are some of the ways SUD can harm individuals in the family and the family as a whole:
- Economic instability and hardships
- Legal issues related to crime activity committed by the individual with SUD
- Increased emotional distress
- Exposure to violence
- Lack of physical and emotional safety in the home
- Parental SUD
- The environment is often built on
- Secrecy, loss, conflict, violence, abuse, emotional chaos, role reversals, and fear
- Disruption to family rituals, roles, routines, communication, and social life
- Impaired attachment for children
- Difficulty building healthy peer relationships
- Unmet developmental needs of children
- Decreased school performance
- Increased risk for SUD for children and adolescents in adulthood
- Inconsistent parenting
- Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV)
- Children entering adulthood are unable to support themselves
- Relationship conflict
- Adult children disconnect from their parents
- Secrecy, loss, conflict, violence, abuse, emotional chaos, role reversals, and fear
- The environment is often built on
- Increases challenges with communication
- Impairment in emotional and physical intimacy
- Increased interpersonal conflict
The impact of SUD on the whole family, when left unaddressed, can be detrimental to the long-term well-being of you and your loved ones. Increased awareness of the impact of SUD on the family highlights the importance of family-focused care to involve the family in treatment to support you and your loved ones. Yet, what happens when you engage in family-focused care and involve your loved ones in your treatment?
Benefits of Family-Focused Care for Long-Term Wellness
Trying to engage in treatment without the involvement of your loved ones can limit the effectiveness if you reenter the family after treatment. If nothing has changed in your relationships with your loved ones when you finish treatment, the whole family is put at risk. The lack of family-focused care in treatment can be harmful in a variety of ways:
- Lack of family involvement in treatment ignores the profoundly negative impact SUD has on the family
- Without family involvement, it leaves the experiences and needs of your loved ones untreated
- A lack of family involvement in treatment ignores the family’s ability to be a potential source of support for change
Thus, family-focused care can give you and your loved ones the space to share your experiences and feelings about the impact of SUD on your lives as individuals and together. In family-focused care, you can break the silence on SUD and increase your awareness and understanding of each other. As noted in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, family involvement throughout the stages of treatment is a powerful resource for enhancing treatment and recovery. Positive role modeling and healthy outcomes are born out of the interdependence of mutually supportive relationships.
However, what does family-focused care mean for you and your loved ones during the treatment process? What will family-focused care look like for you?
Supporting Whole-Person Healing With Family-Focused Care Interventions
Person-centered and family-focused care is an approach to treatment that provides a comprehensive array of support services that meet the needs of each family member. Moreover, as SAMHSA states, person- and family-centered care allows you to make treatment planning a collaborative process for long-term healing. Through person-centered care, you are an active partner in the decision-making process for your care and recovery. With family-focused care, you have the family and peer support you need to thrive. Together, person-centered and family-focused care puts you and your loved ones at the core of the development and goals of treatment.
According to the BMJ Open, interventions for families should include the “Big Three,” which are providing information about the disorder, coping skill development, and support from peers and professionals. As noted by BMJ Open and “Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Family Therapy” from SAMHSA, some of the family-based SUD interventions and strategies that can be used to reduce SUD harm and support long-term recovery include:
- Family psychoeducation
- Couples therapy
- Family therapy
- Non-blaming, collaborative approach
- Setting boundaries
- Identifying supportive family members to be involved in treatment
- Provide community and support group resources for family members
- Work in collaboration to address barriers to treatment engagement
- When appropriate, refer family members to assessments or individual therapy
- Work in collaboration to build a relapse prevention plan and emergency plan
With a deeper understanding of potential interventions and strategies for family involvement, you and your loved ones can start on your journey to recovery together.
Building Mutually Supportive Relationships at Rancho Recovery
At Rancho Recovery, we are committed to providing individualized treatment programs that continuously evolve with you and your family. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to recovery. Thus, you deserve access to support that recognizes and treats you as a whole person. Through a person-centered and family-focused care approach, you and your loved ones can recognize and support each other’s specific needs for healing. With family-focused care, you can work in collaboration to strengthen your voices, set goals, and build resiliency to life stressors.
Here at Rancho Recovery, we recognize how important every part of you, your experiences, and your interactions are to root out and heal unhealthy thinking and behavior patterns. Our family program offers a variety of support tools to help you rebuild and establish strong, healthy relationships with each other. From educational support like psychoeducational groups to family therapeutic sessions, you and your loved ones can work together to foster healthier selves and family dynamics. Finding support in a luxury drug rehab near you gives you the space to uncover the unique key that empowers you to heal.
Challenges with addiction often leave you feeling guilt and shame. Feelings of shame and guilt make the thought of reaching out for support from your loved ones feel impossible. You convince yourself that you are not deserving of love and support. However, trying to go through treatment in isolation impairs your sense of belonging and belief in your value as a person. Yet, with family-focused care, you can work in collaboration with your loved ones to recognize the impact of SUD on your lives. With our family program, you can find personalized support to give the whole family space to rebuild mutually supportive relationships for lifelong recovery. Call Rancho Recovery at (877) 484-1447 to learn more about our family program.