When people enter residential treatment for drug or alcohol addiction, they’re submerged in a caring, supportive environment. During rehab, they can learn about their disease, how it impacts their brain and body and what they can do to protect themselves against the threat of relapse.
While these are all important components of recovery, it’s vital that the family is not overlooked during the healing process. Family members of people struggling with addiction also need help recovering from emotional stress, learning how to help their loved one deal with addiction and reopening the lines of communication.
Here are some of the ways Cycles of Change works to heal families in recovery:
1. Recovery from Emotional Distress
Anger, anxiety, fear, helplessness, stress. These are all valid feelings that can be experienced by family members of someone caught in the destructive cycle of addiction. Their households are often impacted with financial issues stemming from property damage, legal trouble and hospital bills.
However, hostility and repressed anger can continue to wreak havoc even after their loved one recovers. Cycles of Change’s compassionate counseling team can help you with processing and recovering from this emotional distress-promoting healing within the family and helping your loved one’s sobriety stay on track.
2. Education Around Your Loved One’s Addiction
Addiction is a chronic disease with many underlying causes. No one would willingly choose to suffer the devastating consequences of this disease, including your loved one.
Perhaps it started with seemingly harmless experimentation. Or maybe a friend offered your loved one some left over prescription medication to help with a nagging injury. This first time provided such a positive feeling that it turned into a second time, then a third.
Before your loved one knew it, their body had built a tolerance to their drug of choice and are now taking it in higher doses to get the same effects as the first time.
At Cycles of Change, we help you understand the slippery slope of addiction and what your loved one has gone through. This knowledge can help you also heal and learn ways to positively impact your loved one’s recovery.
3. Re-establish Healthy Communication in the Family
When your loved one is struggling with addiction, you have difficulty understanding one another. The blame game starts and supporting each other becomes difficult, if not impossible.
Cycles of Change teaches family members how to communicate in healthier ways. When you can share your needs, wants and appreciation with each other, your relationship has the opportunity to grow stronger. Empathy is vital. To keep growing in recovery, you need to stop providing evidence to show who is at fault and start offering solutions to problematic situations. Remember: how you talk to someone reflects how you feel about him or her, and it sets the tone for a response.
Recovering Through Family Therapy at Cycles of Change
At Cycles of Change, we have helped countless families overcome addiction and grow closer because of it. Our entire staff – from the CEO to our therapists and counselors – care deeply about healing families like yours struggling with addiction.
Watching a loved one struggle with addiction is painful. You may have tried confronting them directly, imposing consequences, or even cutting off contact. If you haven’t been able to get through to them, you might want to enlist the aid of an intervention specialist.
There are plenty of independent interventionists, specialists affiliated with treatment centers out there. But how do you find an intervention specialist that’s right for you and your situation?
Find an Experienced Addiction Interventionist
No two addictions or people are the same. When you stage an intervention, your loved one may react in unpredictable ways. That’s why it’s important to have the support of someone who has been involved in a variety of interventions.
It would help if you also searched for a specialist who is licensed or registered. Some abbreviations or titles you may encounter during your search could include LAADC (Licensed Advanced Alcohol Drug Counselor), LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), or CADC (Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor). Ask about their credentials and what types of interventions they have organized to ensure they have adequate experience dealing with your loved one’s substance abuse.
The Methodology of Your Professional Interventionist
Interventions can take many forms. The Johnson Intervention Model is probably the most commonly recognized approach.
Using this model, your specialist will meet with family and friends to understand your loved one’s situation, their history, and any co-occurring issues like anxiety or depression. Then, the people closest to your loved one are selected to participate in the intervention. Everyone is educated on the process and their roles before the actual intervention take place. The person typically enters treatment within a few days if the event was successful, but the specialist stays engaged with the family for support in the days that follow.
Other models take more of a family-focused approach-educating them on how to communicate with and behave around their loved ones. Please talk with your prospective interventionists about their approach so you’ll know what to expect.
The Motivations of an Addiction Interventionist
Talk to your interventionist about why they do what they do. Addiction impacts many people’s lives, and interventionists are no exception. Some of them have faced personal struggles with addiction, and it can be comforting for you and your family to talk with someone who has made great strides in their own recovery.
Their experience might mirror yours if they have also dealt with alcoholism or addiction within the family. Building rapport with your interventionist can have a calming effect on what can be a very stressful situation.
Find Help Staging Interventions in Palmdale, CA
Interventions require a great deal of planning and experience. The addiction interventionists at Cycles of Change in Palmdale, California, are here for you and your family. We understand that every situation is different. Your loved one’s intervention and the treatment plan that would follow will be customized to fit his or her needs.
Our staff and facilities are equipped to deal with alcohol addiction and drug abuse problems, and we offer dual diagnosis treatment for co-occurring disorders like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. With innovative treatment programs, your loved one will have access to various therapy models that include education and relapse prevention to help keep them on the road to recovery. Contact our team for a confidential conversation today.
The primary goal of any addiction treatment program should be to help the person struggling with drug or alcohol abuse overcome their addiction. However, it’s also important to consider the ways that the family has been impacted. Many drug treatment programs include family therapy as it can help the individual, as well as provide an opportunity for the entire family to heal at the same time.
Family Therapy’s Impact on the Individual
When you enroll in a residential treatment program, the environment is different. You’re in constant contact with people either walking a similar path or staff who are there to help you on your journey to recovery. As you learn about the disease of addiction, you’re in a place that’s designed to be as supportive and nurturing as possible.
It can be helpful to bring your family into that same environment, so you can begin the process of healing your relationship with them in a safe, neutral space. Additionally, research shows that programs that include family therapy in conjunction with individual treatment can:
Lead to higher success rates
Reduce the risk of relapse
Help relieve stress
Healing the Family in Rehabilitation
The family also needs help healing from addiction. Physical, mental and emotional damage has been done, and any negative coping methods that have developed need to be addressed. Secrecy, self-blame and shame cannot be allowed to linger if the entire family is to move forward. Family therapy addresses these topics and allows each member to voice their own experience. Doing this in a neutral environment under the direction of a therapist can make the process much more productive.
Resolving Problematic Dynamics Through Family Therapy
Family issues are often a contributing factor in addiction. Uncovering past family trauma and dealing with it in a therapeutic setting can make healing possible. Other problematic family dynamics can occur in response to addiction. Family therapy educates the family about addiction and how to nurture recovery. When you all understand the problem at hand, it’s easier to provide support in a way that encourages and uplifts one another.
Family Therapy at Cycles of Change in California
The compassionate, professional staff at Cycles of Change is standing by to help you and your family recover from addiction. We understand that every situation is different, and your treatment plan will be tailored to your unique needs. Our rehabilitation program in Palmdale can provide the structured support that you and your family require to begin the process of healing. We can help with everything from the initial stages of detox to residential treatment to extended care programs. Take that first step towards recovery and contact our team now.
Most people experience anxiety to some extent—whether it’s worrying about major life events, difficulty with personal relationships, or stressful situations at work. These anxious feelings are temporary for some, but many people struggle with anxiety for extended periods of time.
Anxiety can set in for long periods of time, or it can manifest as rapid bursts of panic, leaving a person feeling overwhelmed. Many times, people suffering from heavy anxiety turn to alcohol to help calm down and relax.
While alcohol can provide temporary relief from anxiety, it can do considerably more damage in the long-term. According to some estimates, alcoholism and other substance abuse issues are three times more likely among those with anxiety disorders than those without.
Below we’ll explore symptoms of anxiety and how those suffering from the condition become addicted to alcohol.
Symptoms of Anxiety
There are different kinds of anxiety disorders, but some symptoms typically experienced by those suffering from anxiety include:
Difficulty concentrating
Excessive worrying about social interaction or events
Fatigue
Fear of being judged
Feelings of extreme self-consciousness—particularly around others
Irritability
Loss of control or panic attacks
Nausea in social situations
Low sleep quality or routines
Prolonged periods of restlessness
Trembling
Anxiety and Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol can temporarily relieve many of the above symptoms, making it seem like a good solution to anxiety. When you drink alcohol, your blood alcohol content (BAC) rises. This causes changes in your brain chemistry that lead to good feelings and a sense of relaxation.
However, when you stop drinking, your BAC eventually begins to lower. Feelings of depression creep in, and the changes in your brain’s normal operations might even lead to more anxiety. In fact, if you quit drinking alcohol altogether, stress is one of the withdrawal symptoms you’ll face as your mind and body learn how to function without the drug.
Negative Long-Term Effects of Alcohol Use
Consuming more alcohol often raises your tolerance levels, meaning you need to drink more to feel good. If you develop a dependence or addiction, some of the long-term effects can be devastating and even fatal.
Virtually every aspect of your body can be damaged with enough alcohol use. And on top of that, excessive drinking can lead to several life-threatening diseases and types of cancer. When combined with anti-anxiety medications, binge drinking to manage anxiety also carries serious health risks and even death.
Dual Diagnosis Treatment for Anxiety and Alcohol Abuse
When you’re struggling with alcoholism and anxiety, you need simultaneous treatment for both conditions to have the best chance at recovery. These co-occurring disorders often have similar underlying causes, and dual diagnosis treatment can equip you with the tools you need to regain control of your life.
Listen to Chief Aaron’s Addiction Recovery Story
Listen to Fire Chief Aaron’s story about overcoming his substance use disorder with help from Cycles of Change Recovery. If you know someone struggling with addiction, share this video with them to remind them there is hope.
At Cycles of Change Recovery Center, we work with you on a personalized treatment plan to meet your needs. You’ll learn to understand both conditions’ root causes and how to avoid relapse during alcohol recovery. If you’re concerned about a loved one struggling with alcoholism but don’t know how to help, we can assist in staging an intervention.
Contact our team today for a confidential conversation on how you can begin the process of healing.
It can be difficult to admit you need help. People want to be in control of their own lives and handle their own problems. This can be a major obstacle when dealing with addiction. The longer addiction maintains its hold, the more damage it does to both the individual and his or her family. That’s why it’s important that an addiction treatment plan involves the recovering addict’s loved ones to help everyone move forward.
How Addiction Harms the Family
Addiction can inflict damages on the family in a number of ways; anger, anxiety, fear, financial issues, helplessness, physical harm and stress are the most common. The cumulative stress of dealing with the addiction of a loved one can cause changes in the brain chemistry of family members, as well. It’s important to understand that your loved one did not become addicted on purpose. Addiction is a serious medical condition, but it is possible to heal those it has harmed.
Consequences of Ignoring the Family During Drug Rehab
While in treatment, your loved one is working on the various issues that contributed to his or her addiction. Many recovery plans involve education, therapy and emotional breakthroughs in a supportive setting. However, if the family isn’t involved, their trauma remains untreated. Unhealthy coping mechanisms and behaviors family members have developed to deal with the situation oftentimes go unaddressed. Once their loved one returns home, these unresolved issues and the potential for lingering resentment or doubt can trigger relapse and cause further damage to the entire family.
Benefits of Family Therapy in Addiction Treatment
When the family is involved in recovery, each person’s perspective has the opportunity to be shared. Healing becomes possible for everyone involved. Problematic family dynamics that existed before addiction or ones that developed after the fact can be addressed.
As a family, you might have felt forced to cut the person struggling with addiction out of decision-making processes, discussions or activities. Family therapy can help you reintegrate your loved one into everyday family life, and lines of communication that were shut down can be reopened in a safe, neutral setting. As your loved one recovers from addiction, family therapy can help you also heal so that your entire family can have a fresh start once treatment is completed.
Addiction Treatment That Includes the Family in Palmdale, CA
At Cycles of Change, we emphasize family involvement in drug and alcohol treatment. Our compassionate professionals have experience dealing with complicated family dynamics and how those might influence or be influenced by addiction. We are committed to helping you and your loved one recover. If your family needs help dealing with a loved one’s addiction, don’t wait another day. Contact our team and begin the process of healing now.
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