Addiction damages not just the addict, but also the family and the community. Here, let’s take a look at the ways addiction
Addiction is a disease that doesn’t only affect individuals, but also their families. When people compulsively abuse drugs and alcohol and is dependent on them, the behaviors and consequences of these have an impact with the family. And the effects can, more often than not, be tragic.
Another sad part is, the addicts themselves sometimes are unaware of what’s happening and how miserable and hurt their family members are.
Let’s take a closer look at how addiction damages the family.
1. Negativity and emotional turmoil. Addiction can erode the harmony in the house. It can cause people in the family to experience many different kinds of things, such as disappointment, irritation, anger, blame, guilt, anxiety, loneliness, and many others. There may also be more conflict in the household.
2. Negative roles develop. The family dynamic changes to that of enabling, which can take the addict further down the addiction rabbit hole.
3. Being the caretaker. You will also develop the role of being a caretaker of the family especially of the addict, always being there for them, always being the responsible one, and always ensuring that the whole family stays afloat despite the flood of problems that come. This can also result to the caretaker becoming stressed and depressed.
4. Isolation. Your life will become focused on the addict and in keeping things from falling apart that you don’t have time to go out with friends. You may even shut yourself off from the world.
5. Economic instability. You addicted family member may forget their responsibilities, causing job loss, legal problems, and other costly issues. The job loss may even cause your family to have financial problems.
6. Abusive relationships develop. Addiction changes the person’s brain, and therefore personality. This can cause a person to become aggressive, manipulative, irritable, deceitful, and even lose empathy towards other people. They may also have less inhibitions, causing them to be impulsive, and this type of behavior can extend to other family members, developing into abuse.
7. Exposing younger family members to negative role models. Children may copy what they see, and they may also be confused by the family dynamics of a living with an addict in the house. The addiction as well as its behavioral consequences may become normalized, and these may carry over to the children’s adulthood.
8. Disease. Drugs and alcohol cause many health problems, especially with prolonged use. This can be a big emotional, physical, and financial burden to the rest of the family as well.
9. Detachment from family connections. Addicts usually lose interest in activities that they once enjoy, and this also includes spending time with family. They would rather spend time with people who are also using or who are providing them opportunities to drink or use drugs. Family members would feel like they lost the person they used to rely on.
10. Divorce and separation. Addiction damages the family because it can cause marriages and the whole family system to break down, with regret and resentment in their wake.
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