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Addiction is a destructive disease. It creates misunderstanding, resentment, and pain for the people closest to the person using alcohol or drugs. Family members usually have a front-row seat to watch their loved ones suffer in the grips of addiction. The effects of alcohol and drug abuse not only fall on the person using substances but those who love them as well.
Rebuilding trust and communication is a difficult but necessary part of the recovery process. Most treatment facilities offer a family program that provides space for families to work through the pain and hurt caused by addiction. These family therapy services also guide family members through the tough conversations required to uncover unspoken hurts and achieve healing for each person.
What is Family Therapy?
Family therapy is a therapeutic approach that focuses on rebuilding and strengthening relationships between family members. Things like mental illness and substance abuse take a toll on each member of the family unit, and family therapy aims to deconstruct the complicated family dynamics that develop as a result.
Multiple modalities within family therapy are helpful depending on each family’s situation. Some of these specialized approaches include structural family therapy, object relations theory, conjoint therapy, and family systems theory.
When incorporated into a comprehensive addiction treatment program, family therapy can be either short- or long-term, depending on the treatment center’s offerings. Some families choose to continue working on their relationships in family therapy after their loved one’s treatment if they feel they’re making lasting and useful progress.
How Family Therapy Services Fit Into the Treatment Process
Family therapy services are offered as a part of many treatment programs. Treatment focuses primarily on the individual with the alcohol or drug problem through services like cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, or contingency management therapy. As they make individual progress, case managers typically introduce family therapy services after the first few weeks of treatment.
A family program invites interested family members into group therapy sessions where each person receives space to express their thoughts and feelings. Therapists guide the sessions to ensure everyone feels heard and understood, and they provide direction to restore hurt familial relationships. Healing family dynamics is a vital part of the recovery process. Otherwise, these unhealthy family dynamics perpetuate the same dysfunction that often encouraged substance use in the first place.
Finding a Treatment Facility with a Family Program
Most treatment facilities today offer a family program. The amount of time dedicated to family therapy services ranges between facilities, so first, determine how much time you want to dedicate to working on family dynamics. If healing family dysfunction is important to you and your loved ones, Silver Pines Treatment Center is a good option for mental health and addiction treatment.
We developed a family program at Silver Pines that helps families move out of denial, learn to communicate effectively, set healthy boundaries, and find support for themselves as they also support their loved one. To learn more about the family therapy services offered at Silver Pines, call us at 267-719-8689 or submit an online contact form today.
