Is Substance Abuse A Family Disease?

For years, therapists have been calling substance abuse a “family disease.” While it seems obvious to focus on the person struggling with substance abuse, everyone is harmed by addiction. Family dynamics and traumas associated with substance abuse are varied and complex. Understanding how substance abuse hurts families is an important step in recovery.

Watching a loved one battle addiction is a terrible, complicated experience. The entire family will feel fear, anger, sadness, guilt, shame, and helplessness. Family members often blame themselves, question their own actions, and struggle to comprehend what their loved one is going through.

Addiction runs in families.

For years, scientific research has shown that there’s a genetic predisposition for substance abuse. Some people are more at risk due to their family history. Genetic factors also interact with environmental influences such as grief, divorce, physical or sexual abuse, trauma, and other sources of stress. This makes it important for people to be aware of how prevalent addiction is in their families.

Substance abuse creates shared emotional trauma.

Watching a loved one battle addiction is a terrible, complicated experience. The entire family will feel fear, anger, sadness, guilt, shame, and helplessness. Family members often blame themselves, question their own actions, and struggle to comprehend what their loved one is going through. Communication breaks down as trust gets eroded. Honest conversations become more and more difficult as the family worries about confrontation and conflict.

Codependency and enabling happen with addiction.

Codependency is a dysfunctional pattern where family members excessively focus on the addicted person’s needs, neglecting their own happiness, safety, finances, and even basic needs. In an attempt to help their loved one, people in the family might enable the addiction by covering up for them, providing financial support, or making excuses for their behavior.

Enabling can even mean doing nothing in a situation that warrants a reaction. Even though they feel like this helps, it’s actually harmful for both the person struggling with addiction and the entire family. These enabling behaviors can also perpetuate the cycle of substance abuse by not allowing people to accept consequences for their actions or even sabotaging their efforts to get help.

Substance abuse impacts children.

Children in families affected by substance abuse are especially vulnerable. They may witness erratic behavior, violence, neglect, or even the removal of a parent from the home. These experiences will likely lead to emotional trauma, which can have lasting effects on their self-esteem, academic performance, and ability to build relationships with others.

This trauma happens partly because children learn how to cope with the world via modeled adult behavior. Their models are the person struggling with substance abuse, their enabler, and the other family members subjected to dysfunctional dynamics. They see people deal with stress, pain, conflicts, and trauma in unhealthy, destructive ways. The cycle of addiction often replays itself when these children grow up, which means future generations go through the same traumas.

Families with substance abuse struggle financially.

Studies show that substance abuse and a family’s financial situation are intertwined. Funds that could be allocated for education, healthcare, or essential needs are diverted to fuel the addiction. When money isn’t invested into healthcare and education, the family can suffer from worsening illnesses and struggle with financial literacy and time management.

This means it can be even harder for the family to be financially secure. Also, legal issues such as arrests, fines, and court proceedings can further strain family resources and stability. Addiction is also much more costly for those in bad financial situations, and proper treatment can feel out of reach.

Are you or a loved one struggling with addiction?

It’s never too late to reach out for help. It’s the first step towards breaking the cycle of substance abuse that harms families for generations. Talk with a mental health professional to develop a treatment plan that can help each member of the family work through the trauma of addiction.

To find out more about how substance abuse counseling can help families, please reach out to us.