Family Recovery?
Many people - especially those associated with the "Christian community" - shy away from associating the word "disease" with Substance Use Disorder (SUD). It can make people feel uncomfortable to consider that some or all of the addiction-battle could be more than simply making a better or more spiritual choice, or a matter of will-power on the part of the addicted-individual. It is widely understood by some, however, that using drugs or alcohol to regulate a dysregulated nervous system is a complex coping-mechanism. Boiled down, using drugs or alcohol can be distorted into a matter of perceived survival in some cases, where self-preservation instincts were activated in an individual, to manage a long-term and detrimental emotional, mental, or physical environment. This usually forms in adverse childhood experiences, but can also take place in young adulthood relationships, as well.
An addicted person's mid-brain can be defective to varying degrees genetically from birth, or become defective as a result of prolonged drug or alcohol usage, sending twisted signals from the addicted person's mid-brain that the substance of obsession is literally what will allow them to maintain survival under similar unresolved traumatic pressures or triggers in adulthood, or essentially, preserve their life. When an organ in the human body fails to function properly, the organ becomes defective. When the defects of that organ produce effects that are chronically detrimental to the health of the individual, and progressively lead to death, the factors become characteristic of that of a "diseased" individual.
This phenomenon is referred to as a "family disease" because the effects of the addiction impact everyone in the household. Family members who love or interact with the addicted person often suffer with significant symptoms such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, attachment disorders, and from process addictions such as codependency, love addiction, sex addiction, shopping addition, or gambling addiction. All of these results are nervous system responses to the stress and chaos the substance addiction has on an entire household, or are compulsions developed in an attempt to cope with it, or escape the reality of it, on a regular basis. (We recognize sin-nature comes into play here, because we are all flawed as corrupted human beings. Foundationally, sin is the condition that is slowly killing us all, so we are all "diseased" from the start, at any rate.)
For these reasons, addiction is referred to as a family disease, which detrimentally impacts the mental health and emotional well-being of the addicted person's entire family unit. Because of this reality, we become aware that family recovery is required. It is possible that the addicted person alone recovers from their substance abuse, while the family never recovers from their symptoms, and vice versa. Through the efforts of Established Family Recovery Ministries, overall family recovery is cultivated when all family members lean into their own healing and recovery efforts.
Family recovery for family members looks different for each person, depending on the role they play in the family (partner, spouse, child, parent, sibling, etc.) combined with the specific dynamics they experienced (dysfunction, abuse, betrayal, neglect, trauma, co-addiction, etc.) and ultimately, traces back to their own prior experiences if they have unresolved wounds from adverse childhood experiences. A recovery plan can be established by the ministry's Client Advocate with step-by-step recovery action-steps, crisis intervention, and spiritual growth initiatives. All recovery services and action-steps are determined on a case-by-case basis as relationship is built between the ministry's Client Advocate and the client.
Learn more about our Services for family members here.
Additional Articles:
Why Family Recovery is an Important Part of Treatment