Substance Abuse Affects More People Than Those Who Are Struggling With Addiction
From the outside looking in, you may think that addiction only impacts the individual with the addiction. Addiction is a disease that affects every aspect of your life: your finances, social life, and health, both mental and physical. However, while addiction obviously affects the addict, friends and family also feel the impacts of addiction.
But how, exactly, does addiction affect others? Addiction has a sway over familial relationships that may not be visible to the untrained eye. If you are looking to understand the connection between loved ones and those struggling with addiction, keep reading.
Roles of addiction
In a family setting, there are different roles that family members adopt when one person in the family is an addict. This is done to give the appearance of normalcy or business as usual. These roles include:
● The addict: Although the abuser’s substance of choice is the driving force in their life, the addict is the central member of the family unit. They may isolate themselves from others, lie to and manipulate their family members, all to gain access to their substance of choice. Obviously, this will build up resentment toward them and cause issues within the family unit.
● The enabler: This piece of the family unit is the one that covers the tracks of the addict, so to speak. They will ignore the problem for as long as possible to deny that anything is wrong and everything is functioning business as usual.
● The class clown: This individual strives to provide comedic relief to the family. When a family member with a substance abuse issue is causing problems, the class clown will distract everyone by causing a scene to make everyone smile.
● The golden child: Also known as the hero, this person will try extra hard in their life, whether it’s in school or professionally, to compensate for the addict’s actions. Usually, this causes high anxiety in these individuals due to the standards they place upon themselves.
However, as the addiction progresses, the family may stop supporting the family member with an addiction. At some point, they may even cease communication with the addict altogether.
How Are Families Impacted By Addiction?
Loss of trust
Unfortunately, those with substance abuse problems are not known for keeping their word. Continually broken promises will degrade the foundation of trust between an addict and their loved one.
Generally, these forgotten commitments are made with the intention of following through. However, the reliance on their substance of choice likely makes them unable to show up in the way others need them to, or forget about the commitment entirely.
Financial impact
This is an unfortunate side effect of addiction. In order to maintain their need for their substance of choice, the person with an addiction will likely spend all that they have. Once the addict runs out of money, they will turn to their loved ones to help fund their addiction.
Generally, the enabler in this situation is the one to help provide funds to fuel the addiction. Unless there is incredible wealth in the situation, it is a very real possibility that addiction can financially ruin both the addict and the enabler.
Addiction is a problem not to be taken lightly. It can impact so many people, not just the ones living with addiction. If you or a family member are struggling with substance abuse, reach out to a professional for help. Substance abuse counseling can help you or a loved one start a new, healthier chapter in life, contact me soon to learn more.