Families and Addiction

Finances that would otherwise be spent on other beneficial engagements end up financing an addiction. An addict will even spend productive time feeding their addiction at the expense of working. You spend time drinking or on social media and lose your job. Efforts to fight addiction are costly and affect most families, especially when the remedies fail to work. Gambling addicts will finish a family’s wealth in no time.

In some cases, an addicted family member turns violent towards other members. The relationship meant to be tight gets eroded and leads to emotional detachment. Addiction affects married couples. An aggressive addict will cause psychological issues to the spouse, such as helplessness, fear, and hopelessness. Children in such unions end up neglected.

Unless you come from a society that understands and accepts that addiction is a disease, taking care of an addict is embarrassing. Most people will view an addict as having loose morals and lacking discipline and self-control. When you associate with an addict, you attract the same social shame. Parents of an addict are presumed to have failed in upbringing the child and enablers of the behavior.

A pregnant woman abusing alcohol or drugs risks affecting the baby in her womb; some of the effects last a lifetime. A smoker will expose others to risks such as lung cancer. Children raised in families with addicted members will involve themselves with the substance used. Addiction has a ripple effect not only on the user.

Families with members suffering from addiction will sometimes find the roles changing to suit the situation. A father who is addicted and failing at providing basic needs for his family will force the wife of the eldest child to take on the mantle. The eldest child may be forced to mature faster and shoulder the father’s responsibilities. The wife may need to cover up for the father’s failure by taking on more obligations to keep the family afloat.

An addicted member will lie, steal and do anything to feed their addiction. A family faced with addiction will lose loyalty and resentment towards the addict. Efforts to intervene may fail, resulting in anger and loss of trust. It is hard to understand why a person is hurting the family.