Addiction in the Family | Recommended Treatment in Maryland

Drug or Alcohol Addiction in the Family

For many people who are taking that long hard look at their own drug or alcohol addiction, or that of a loved one, keeping focus on one’s individual treatment is crucial to establishing a successful path towards lifelong recovery. Understanding the personal root cause for addiction is one of the many aspects of treatment. For some, this could mean a co-occurring mental health condition. For others, this includes an underlying familial connection to addiction and it can present in two ways: genetic predisposition and environment.

Genetic Factors in Addiction

Drug and alcohol addictions are physiological and behavioral. There’s a reason that addiction affects the entire family. For 40 to 60 percent of those who suffer with substance addiction, there is also a genetic predisposition within their family to it.

Through the treatment and recovery process, Maryland Recovery urges the family members of our clients to be part of our family program. This allows us to uncover generational addiction tendencies and share positive life skills with the entire family, minimizing the risk for addiction relapse while strengthening relationships.

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Environmental Causes for Addiction

What we are exposed to dictates our perception of what is normal. In addition to the constant negative impressions people receive from digital media and the people they know, as well as strangers, some of the more detrimental root causes for addictive behaviors lies within the home.

Parents and siblings influence the behaviors of children, more than their peers. When family members engage in ongoing drug or alcohol use at home, adolescents become young adults who use for recreational purposes or as an accepted coping mechanism to deal with emotional, physical or sexual abuse. Without warning, chemical codependency sets in.

In families that condone addictive behaviors, they can inadvertently support the drug or alcohol use. Through what is known as enabling behaviors, family members act, react or hide from the person using drugs or alcohol simply because they don’t know how to handle it. Enabling behaviors foster an environment of fear, shame, guilt, loss and anger, allowing the drug or alcohol use to continue while further destroying the family.

If you recognize these behaviors in yourself or other family members, you could be enabling the drug or alcohol addiction in someone else:

Enabling behaviors include:

Deflecting blame on others instead of the addict
Ignoring the addict and associated issues stemming from their drug use
Taking care of their mess or lying about it (financial, work, school, personal obligations)
Ignoring own needs to take care of addict’s first
Inability to express feelings to other family members, emotionally unavailable
Living in fear because of the addict’s behavior
Resentment towards the addict and the impact he or she has made on the family

In addition to the behaviors noted above, family members can often take specific roles within the dynamics of enabling an addict. Counseling from addiction treatment experts can reset parent/child patterns into healthy behaviors that support the entire family.

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The Signs of Drug or Alcohol Addiction

Recognizing the symptoms of substance abuse and the signs that indicate the behaviors have escalated into drug or alcohol use disorder is the first step in having the courage to identify the problem. Maryland Recovery is here to help you create the best evidence-based treatment plan to help you and your family move past addiction to enjoy a life, drug-free.

Some of the symptoms of substance addiction will vary, depending on the type of drug(s) used. Any reference to the word ‘drugs’, includes alcohol. Whether you have personal concerns about yourself or your partner, parent or child, use the following checklist as a guide to help identify drug or alcohol addiction in your home.

Signs of Drug or Alcohol Dependency

Desire to continue using substance when not needed (medical purposes)

Tolerance for the drug has built up, requiring more to get the same effect

Loss of control over use, even when negative outcomes to life circumstances are obvious

Day-to-day plans or activities revolve around getting the drug and using it

Losing the ability to function normally to meet work, school, family or other obligations

Personal relationships are strained due to erratic behavior

Engaging in risky behaviors, often (DUI, DWI, multiple sex partners, sharing of needles)

Hiding drug or alcohol use from others

Friendships change to those who use or those that provide access to the drug

Go doctor shopping (get prescriptions for same drug through different practitioners)

Using more than one drug, either simultaneously or to offset effects of the other

Beg, borrow and steal to get money or valuables to sell and buy drugs

Change in eating habits (weight gain/bloat or weight loss)

Change in sleep patterns

Change in speech patterns (slurred or rapid)

Loss of interest in social functions

Ill-feeling when drug or alcohol use is stopped (headaches, shakiness, agitation, heart palpitations, and more)

Inability to feel joy unless using

Ignoring or uncaring about personal hygiene

All of the above descriptors aren’t required for an addiction diagnosis to take place. If you are being told by others that you are different than you used to be and are currently using drugs or alcohol, take their words as a warning sign. If you recognize the symptoms above in a family member, it might be time to discuss a family plan that begins with an intervention.

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