Addiction is not an individual disease; it is a family disease that affects family members as well. As a fire in the forest spreads speedily and takes the whole forest in effect, same like that, addiction also spreads like this and affects every family member. Seek professional help from mental health specialists at the best addiction treatment center in Lahore Willing Ways Science suggests that if a family of drug addicts works on themselves, they can better help the addict to get recover from the disease.
The rehabilitation center follows the philosophy of family training given by the book, ‘freeing someone you love from Addiction and Alcoholism.’ This book introduces ten major responsibilities of family members that need to be fulfilled while dealing with an addict.
Following, we are going to discuss the major responsibilities of the family of an addict.
1.Learn about Disease and get Yourself Involved in Treatment:
This is the first time the most important responsibility of the family is to learn about the disease of addiction. They did not use to know more about addiction, and due to lack of information, they might have made some mistakes while dealing with patients. There are understanding facts about sex addiction because it can cause a complex addiction disorder. It is very important for the family to learn the basic and supportive concepts of addiction, which help the family to deal effectively with their patient.
2.Identify Unhealthy Behaviors:
As we discussed above that, due to unawareness, family members make some mistakes while dealing with an addict. There are two biggest mistakes that a family makes; these are enabling and provoking. Enabling is a helping attitude toward patients, a desire to make them protected from any harm caused by drug use, want to make them feel good, and feel loved by family members. Another behavior is provoking, which means to deal patients disrespectfully and to consider them as bad people. The family is responsible for identifying both of these behaviors to make the patient successfully recover.
3.Alter the Unhealthy Behaviors:
After identifying enabling and provoking behaviors, the Role of intervention in addiction treatment, another responsibility of the family is to stop these sick behaviors. As we discussed in the previous responsibility enabling and provoking are considered mistakes that have been made by the family unconsciously. Putting an end to these behaviors can play a crucial role in supporting the individual’s recovery journey and creating a healthier family dynamic. But now, after realizing the consequences of enabling and provoking, the family is responsible for adopting other behaviors for the better progress of the patient and family as well.
4.Examine Addicted Thinking and Behaviors:
Due to a prolonged episode of addiction, the neuroscience therapy for addiction works, and the family gets affected badly by the patient’s behavior. Due to that, they start to become mentally disturbed, such as getting presented for the treatment they get from the patient. They do not accept the reality that their loved one is suffering from a life-threatening disease or so on, but it is mandatory for families to examine and assess their sick thinking patterns, which makes them deny addiction as a disease. If they work on their Sikh thinking patterns and assignments generated for the patient, they can help the patient in a better way.
5.Resolve Interpersonal Conflicts:
Family members with their interpersonal conflicts or disputes cannot help the patient in recovery. Science highlights the unity of the family members for the sake of the patient. Overcoming the addiction challenges requires unified families, and they want that the Family members remain divided. They cannot help the patient. They can help patients only when they become gathered on a scientific pitch of treatment.
6.Realistic Expectations:
When the patient comes into recovery, family members expect the patient to be recovered completely very soon. They expect all of their problems have come to be solved now. But that is not true. Family is required to keep in mind that addiction is a chronic and primary disease which means that its reason lies in the patient’s body, and also, this is a long-lasting disease. It can only be managed. So, having this information in mind leads the family to expect realistically from the patient.
7.Focus on your Daily Life:
The family of the patient enables by the professionals to write a family intervention to keep the focus on their daily life due to the consequences of addiction.. they roam around the addicts and keep on protecting them, which makes them physically and mentally disturbed. Most of the time, the family remains unable to focus on their vocation or profession as well., so it is their responsibility to divert their focus from the patient and be focused on their daily life, work, relationship, and their own health.
8.Be Armed to Prevent Relapse:
Addiction is a chronic and also relapsing disease. So, as the other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiac disease, drug addiction has the chance to get relapsed. But the family of the patient can help the patient to prevent Relapse if they fully follow the conditions of treatment and instructions provided by Sadaqat Clinic Karachi, which is known as the best rehab center in all of Pakistan. Family is required to be prepared as an armed force to prevent Relapse. It is one of the most important responsibilities of the family of addicts.
9.Emotional Control:
Family members of the patient get trapped in some emotional problems due to the lasting effects of addiction. Due to net emotional distribution, the family deals with patients with some h Unhealthy patterns, like provoking, enabling, and fear. The addiction rehab center teaches families to control their negative emotions and deal with patients after emotional influence and feed the patient with a rational brain to produce better effects on the patient’s recovery.
10.Look for Progress:
The family of the patient usually appears impatient, which makes them look at the patient as completely recovered. This thought or expectation of the family diverts them from treatment. Sadaqat Clinic Karachi plays an important role in teaching families to look for progress instead of perfection because it takes time for the patient to get productive and sensible after coming into recovery.
Conclusion:
Having an addict in the family and dealing with them is not an easy task people have to do. To make it scientific and less mistaken, the family of the addict must fulfill the above-mentioned responsibilities. these responsibilities increase the chances of making a recovery successful.
Written by:
Misbah Mehboob
Associate Clinical Psychologist
Sadaqat clinic Karachi
