How Addiction Affects Family

Addiction is often viewed as a solitary disease that only affects the addict. Although it is true addiction is difficult for the addict, it is a disease that impacts the whole family. In fact, addiction can be felt generations on down the line, making it a serious family problem. 

Understanding how addiction affects family will give you some power, though. With this understanding, you and your family can receive the support you need for a life of recovery. Scroll down to learn about how does addiction affect family and friends.

How Addiction Affects Family

Addiction impacts the family in many ways. A once-loving home can be turned into a nightmare. Once supportive parents can become entrenched in their own addiction and neglect their children as a result. In other words, addiction turns the home upside down. 

Consequently, addiction can lead to strained relationships, increased abuse, financial difficulties, and loss of trust. These are only the short-term consequences of addiction within the home. 

If the addiction continues, the short-term consequences can snowball into long-term consequences that affect generations. For example, parents separate, and families get broken up. More worrisome is the fact that children of addicts are more likely to become addicts themselves, resulting in a generational problem.

How Alcohol and Drug Addiction Affections Family Members and Kids 

Untreated addiction affects each family member differently. Among adults, addiction leads to strained relationships and often failed marriages. It can also lead to loss of relationships, distrust, and other negative consequences among adults not in a romantic relationship.

Kids are especially at risk whenever addiction is in a home. Children of addicts are genetically predisposed to addiction. Not to mention, they often grow up in environments where they experience stunted social development, health, and self-confidence.

As a result, many children who grow up in a household with a parent who has an active substance use disorder turn to alcohol and drugs themselves. This trend turns into a generational problem among families.

Even if the addict is not the parent in the household, the consequences are still felt. For example, it’s common for one of the children to develop a substance use disorder. Whenever this occurs, the parents often become codependent or enablers, and other siblings get kicked to the sidelines. In this scenario, the siblings that are often ignored are called the invisible victims. 

Needless to say, addiction seriously impacts the family. No family member is in the clear when just one individual suffers from an active substance use disorder. The whole family suffers. 

How Many Families Are Affected by Addiction? 

Many individuals think that the direction is not something that will impact them. On the contrary, many families are riddled with addiction, and it’s likely that people you know suffer. It is estimated that as many as 1 in 8 children lives with a parent who has an active substance use disorder.

Get Family Support from Recovery Beach 

Learning how addiction affects the family is not fun. It is heartbreaking and scary. The good news is that there is help available.

Recovery Beach offers family support. Through our family support, your entire family can heal from addiction and learn a new way of living a life in recovery. All the while, the individual addict can receive the treatment they need to get clean and begin a sober life.

If you or someone in your family is suffering from addiction, call Recovery Beach today. Our empathetic staff members are here to help you find a treatment program that is right for you and your whole family. Give us a call today to learn more.