Family Therapy for Addiction in Los Angeles, CA

Family therapy helps heal damaged relationships among family members. It also can draw out issues that go unseen among loved ones. For instance, children often adopt unhealthy ways of thinking and coping when a parent or sibling is addicted. Family therapy helps to resolve these problems to improve the outcomes for everyone.

It’s no secret conflicts arise among families of those with addictions. They might say or do hurtful things under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Or, they could also get arrested or fired, leading to challenges that impact everyone in the home. Family members are often left cleaning up messes or making excuses for their loved ones.

Our Los Angeles family therapy brings the entire family in for a type of group therapy. Each person might have one-on-one time with a therapist to work on personal issues. That way, as things come up within the group, each person also gets time to work on themselves and make the family stronger together.

Family therapy in Los Angeles, CA involves learning new skills to create a healthy household. Each family member can expect to work out their own issues for the greater good of the family unit. Then, the family comes together as a group to restore damaged or unhealthy relationships.

During family therapy, a therapist will help the family build some of the following skills:

Conflict Resolution

All families have conflicts. These are inevitable, even in homes without substance use disorders. However, many families of those with substance use disorders lack the skills needed to deal with conflicts in a healthy way. Often, family members use avoidance tactics rather than confront conflicts head-on. As these conflicts go unresolved, family members grow more distant from each other.

Healthy Boundaries

Boundaries are crucial in any relationship. Family members need to set limits when their boundaries are crossed. Boundaries are one of the primary focuses when it comes to our Los Angeles based family therapy sessions. However, in many families with addiction, boundaries are crossed all the time. In addition, family members might attempt to impose limits on their loved one’s behavior, yet they don’t have the skills to enforce these limits. Without healthy boundaries, family members can become co-dependent or enable their loved one’s addiction.

Life Skills Development

Many people with addiction lack the life skills needed to create a healthy home. Since addiction often leads to neglecting household responsibilities, families might need to shore up these skills. For example, if a parent is too intoxicated to make dinners regularly, children might eat junk food or other unhealthy foods.

Therefore, the family could benefit from learning to plan and cook meals. By building the above-mentioned skills, families can heal together. When families heal together, everyone benefits from having these relationships restored.

Addiction affects the entire family in many ways. Often, the effects depend upon the person’s relationship with their addicted loved one. A spouse might be impacted differently than a sibling, for instance. This is because each relationship has its own set of expectations from the other person.

The following are some of the issues that families face due to addiction:

As these continue, each family member could develop many different problems. They repeat similar patterns in their relationships outside of the home. Family members do not have healthy coping skills for stress. Therefore, they could also develop a substance use disorder to self-medicate for their conditions.

Are Children Affected by Addiction at Home?

Children of those with addictions often have issues unseen by their parents. They often develop unhealthy family roles to deal with the problems at home. Children growing up with a parent addicted to substances often normalize their parent’s behavior. Many of these parents don’t realize the impact on their children. 

Parents should also talk to their children about their recovery. Sometimes, parents go to rehab while keeping their children in the dark. However, talking to children about having a disease and taking care of it sets a positive example for kids. Children could have questions or concerns and need their parents to open the conversation.

Our family therapy program in Los Angeles, California offers many benefits to the family as well as the loved one with an addiction. When the family heals together, the person in rehab also benefits from the support of a healthy household. Thus, the entire family unit benefits from family therapy.

Additional benefits of family therapy in Los Angeles, CA include the following:

Addiction impacts the entire family when a loved one struggles without treatment. Often, family members find unhealthy ways to cope with their loved one’s behavior. They could also have feelings of guilt, fear, or shame that lead to emotional health problems. Sanctuary Treatment Center of Los Angeles, California, offers family therapy during drug and alcohol rehab.

Contact us today to learn how your family can recover together.