Family therapy is an important part of addiction treatment. It allows the individual to be surrounded by the people who love and support them the most. Drug abuse doesn’t just affect the person who has the addiction, and this type of therapy encourages everyone to heal from the past. In this article, we will include a more in-depth look at family therapy techniques, as well as how they can help individuals battling addiction.
Why Include the Family?
A family, whether big or small, is an essential part of everyone’s life. Despite good family experiences that some people have, others are not as lucky. The type of family someone has is a huge part of who they are as a person and the habits they form. If a person experiences neglect or trauma from family members, it is very common for them to develop a substance addiction because of it.
Family therapies deal directly with stripping the toxicity out of old family ways. These therapeutic approaches are an essential part of the recovery process. This type of therapy addresses problems that start within the home. It also provides family support to individuals who are going through recovery.
People with addiction often feel like they’re alone. Using family therapy techniques during treatment demonstrates that this isn’t true. The support that they get from their family members helps their treatment and boosts their confidence in recovery. This, in turn, can help them to avoid relapse. It can also encourage them to continue their new habits and ways of thinking after a full recovery has been made.
What Are the Advantages of Family Therapy Techniques?
Family therapy for addiction treatment involves the precise combination of two therapeutic methods, which are family and addiction therapies. Both of them aid people in overcoming mental disorders, which block or hinder normal functioning. Together, however, they give people a greater chance of successful recovery.
To understand why family therapy techniques work so well, it’s important to know the importance of the family support structure. Of course, family therapy, as the name suggests, involves the family members of those who struggle with addiction. A lack of strong family bonds can contribute to drug or alcohol use, especially for young substance abusers. Repairing these bonds helps ensure they don’t then return to their habits after rehab.
Family therapy focuses more on how to repair bonds and come to an understanding. When used for addiction treatment, family therapy techniques help families work together to solve problems in their households related to the abuse. This approach is important because many addictions stem from problems at home.
What Are Some Family Therapy Techniques?
When administering family therapy techniques, therapists typically follow a routine. The first step involves identifying problems within families. Once they bring these issues into the open, they set goals for the families to reach in order to solve the problems.
With goals in place, therapists can set up interventions to help families achieve them. The interventions are often necessary to show people that they have a problem. The therapists examine the responses from the interventions and develop specific topics to address in future sessions. Interventions are by far one of the most common techniques. Identifying problems within families and setting goals are the most important aspects.
What is an Intervention and Why Would Someone Need One?
When someone who is suffering from addiction either doesn’t accept help or even acknowledge that addiction is present at all, an intervention may be necessary. An intervention is an event planned by friends and family of an individual struggling with substance abuse. The goal of an addiction intervention is to encourage receiving treatment for their addiction. These interventions are can be directed by an intervention specialist or by someone closest to the individual.
Because addiction is such an overpowering disease, someone who is struggling with substance abuse may not even be aware there they have a problem. The reason interventions are so crucial is because they can open an individual’s eyes to the severity of the situation by allowing the ones closest to them to share how it has affected their relationships.
Here at Crestview Recovery, we are here to assist you with whatever you need if you have decided to plan an intervention for a loved one. We can provide resources and direct you to licensed professionals in order to help you and your struggling family member find freedom from addiction.
Key Factors of Staging a Successful Intervention
At CVRC, our team is dedicated to providing you with the sufficient level of knowledge and resources for any roadblocks you may face when staging an intervention for your loved one. Because it is such a tedious process, we recommend you follow these steps:
- Make a detailed, thorough plan. Whether you have 2 people or 20 people coming to the intervention, it is important to plan ahead. Make sure everyone knows the time, date and place of the event. This will not only help you organize, but it will also give others planning to attend an advanced notice.
- Research the Treatments Available. If you’re going to provide information to your loved one about their addiction, you have to be well versed in what types of centers and treatments are available to treat their disorder. This will help everyone attending the intervention, as well as the addict understand what to expect in rehab.
- Practice. Get everyone who is going to be involved in the intervention together beforehand to practice what is going to happen. By doing this, the intervention will run much more smoothly than if it’s given impromptu.
- Hold the intervention. Once the details have been worked out and the event has been set up, take your loved one to the intervention. Allow them to express whatever emotions they feel necessary in order to get them to the event, even if they are unwilling to listen.
- Offer advice and support. During the intervention, make sure that the addict is aware that they are loved and supported during this hard time in their life. Avoid any negativity during this portion of the intervention.
- Enforce the consequences. In order to make your loved one understand what will happen if they continue abusing the substance, you will have to come up with consequences for them to face if they choose to ignore the help you’re offering.
- Follow up with your loved one. The final and most important step of the entire process is to follow up with your loved one after the intervention. Allow them to express their fears and hesitations about receiving treatment, as well as encourage them to seek help. In doing so, you will allow them to understand you will be there every step during recovery.
Other Types of Therapy that Involve Others
“Therapy” can be a scary word. Generally, the first thought of therapy usually includes a one-on-one with a therapist who analyzes thoughts, emotions, and past experiences. Here at Crestview, this couldn’t be further from the truth. There are many therapies that not only involve other techniques like the typical individual therapy protocol but other patients going through similar situations as well.
A very common type of similar therapy to individual therapy that involves others is group therapy. This simply means other individuals who are going through similar situations and addictions join together into a group. They each take turns telling their own version of the hardships they have faced and what they believe made them turn to a substance to try to mask the effects of everyday life. By listening and sharing stories, each struggling addict can find comfort in the fact that they are not alone in their situations.
Another group setting therapy we commonly use at CVRC is the holistic approach to therapy. This can include anything from yoga classes to acupuncture to even meditation and spiritual guidance. We allow our patients to form healthy minds and lifestyles that are based on their new hobbies and interests we hope to spark through these programs. After rehab is completed, our goal is that they take them with them into their everyday lives.
One last group type of therapy we put a large emphasis on at our facilities is gender-specific therapy. When women get together with other women and men get together with other men, we find that our patients generally recover faster. Often, people do well when they’re surrounded by like-minded individuals. They’re also more likely to be vulnerable around the same gender.
Don’t Fight Addiction By Yourself
At Crest View Recovery Center, we pride ourselves on offering comprehensive rehab services. We use advanced family therapy techniques, as well as other group therapy techniques, to help you overcome addiction quickly. At the same time, we provide comfort and quality.
Want to learn more about our family therapy techniques? Reach out to us to see how our family therapy addiction recovery program can help you. For more information about how we can help you or your loved one, please call us at (866) 327-2505.
