Family Counseling Services for Addiction for Dallas Residents

Family Counseling for Addiction for Dallas, TX Residents

Addiction is a disease that has long-reaching impacts. Of course, the person suffering from a substance use disorder is personally struggling with the mental, physical, and emotional trauma that accompanies their addictive behaviors. However, this disease also affects many people who live with or regularly interact with someone suffering from addiction.

Addiction is essentially a family disease because its symptoms touch on everyone in the family unit in one way or another. This is why family counseling is an essential component of the addiction recovery process at JC’s Recovery & Counseling Center in Hollywood, Florida. Our addiction recovery specialists in South Florida treat people from across the country, including Dallas, Texas residents, who wish to overcome their addiction to substances in a safe, secure environment that is Christian-based and offers scientifically sound therapies and treatment.

At JC’s Recovery, we are acutely aware of addiction’s repercussions on spouses, parents, children, and siblings. Including family members in some of the recovery treatment performed at JC’s Recovery is often a necessary component of rehab.

If you or someone you love is dealing with an addiction to substances, it’s essential to realize that everyone in the family is feeling and reacting to addiction, often in different ways. Family counseling helps not only the person undergoing recovery but also helps family members better understand how they can be of help, how to heal together, and how their actions may have contributed to the addiction process along the way.

How Addiction Affects the Family

Family members will notice changes in your behavior and physical health or appearance, either immediately or over time. Some relatives or spouses will take careful note of the observed changes, while others may dismiss them out of hand as of no importance.

The reasons for the different reactions can be complicated. Some of your family members might not connect the dots that will help them understand what you’re going through. Others may not want to understand and will ignore the patterns of addiction you’ve been displaying. At a certain point, however, your addiction to substances will affect the family on many levels, including emotionally, financially, socially, and psychologically.

Each member of a family in an addicted person’s life will be affected by substance abuse. The effects will come to light in different manners, dependent upon a person’s way of dealing with things and their relationship with the person who has a substance use disorder.

If you are a person suffering from addiction, you will play a vital role in this family, with others in your life performing various other supporting roles that will either hurt or help you with your recovery goals. This is why family counseling at JC’s Recovery in South Florida is an essential aspect of rehab to Dallas residents.

Some of the roles family members may take on, either consciously or unconsciously, include:

· The Hero
· The Enabler
· The Scapegoat
· The Mascot
· The Lost Child

A family hero is a perfectionist, Type A personality. This person who is affected by another member’s addiction will feel a lot of pressure to bring everyone together to do what’s right and bring the family back to normal. Being a “hero” can bring on a lot of anxiety and stress.

An enabler in the family is in denial that substance abuse is happening to their loved one. This person will do whatever they can to protect their loved one and make light of the situation, making excuses for the addicted person’s behavior.

The scapegoat gets the blame for all of the problems the family is going through. He or she gives the family someone to be angry at, other than the parent or sibling who is addicted to substances.

The mascot will try to deflect the seriousness and stress of the situation by providing comic relief. It’s often the youngest child in the family who also wants and needs the approval of their older family members.

The lost child is the one in the family who is kind of shy and doesn’t get a lot of attention in general. He or she may spend a lot of time alone to cope with the addiction of their family member.

Perhaps you are at a point where you suspect that a member of your family is abusing substances. Certain signs will point toward someone who is dealing with addiction issues. Sometimes, it’s challenging to come to grips knowing that a spouse or child is abusing substances and, though the evidence if plain for others to see, you may be missing it.

Some signs of addiction in a family member include:

· Problems occurring at school or work: this can consist of frequent, unexplained absences, a sudden lack of interest in studies or work activities, failing grades or poor work performance
· Physical health issues: loss of energy and motivation; gaining or losing weight
· Grooming: a person loses interest in their appearance, including clothing, bathing, and personal grooming chores
· Behavior: changes in behavior, such as being overly secretive about belongings and going out to meet friends; drastic changes in behavior and relationships
· Money: a person is suddenly asking for money with no reasons given for why it’s needed; cash is missing from a wallet or purse; re-salable items are suddenly missing from the home

These symptoms exclude some of the more obvious physical signs of addiction, such as:

· Red eyes
· Increased euphoria, paranoia and other behaviors
· Walking uncoordinated
· Slowed reaction time
· Odor of substances on clothing and body (cannabis, alcohol)
· Cravings for certain foods and snacks at odd hours
· Reduced interest in and interaction with the usual friends and hobbies

Learning Coping Skills as a Family

At JC’s Recovery, our Family Program helps families learn the coping skills they’ll need to better understand the intricacies of addiction and how it affects everyone. To effectively deal with addiction and rehab, a family needs to communicate well and welcome being educated about the disease and its ramifications.

The family of someone who is addicted to substances must take part in family counseling to learn:

· How to express their thoughts and feelings in a positive manner
· How to communicate with one another, so a better understanding is achieved
· How to help change the patterns of behavior that may have led to a continuing addiction

Bringing Families Together to Heal

Our specialists at JC’s Recovery want to help families connect and learn new ways of dealing with the stresses of addiction. We want to teach you how to support one another and become a healing source rather than pain and stress.

JC’s Recovery is a Christian-based recovery center that heavily relies on the power of prayer and God’s word, in addition to relying on evidence-based healing techniques and therapies. Walking the path of God’s unconditional love and compassion, we help families reconnect to battle the challenges of addiction and the person who is undergoing rehab under our care.

We welcome clients of all faiths from all over the country to come to our recovery center in Hollywood, Florida. If you or someone you love needs our help, call JC’s Recovery at 844-524-6873 for more information today.