Families

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Families Addiction

• Ayaana Brown, Jessie Carr, Phillip Mongan,
• Sharal Ozim, Adrianne Thomas,
• and Paige Tidwell, MSW students
• SOWK 7273 Clinical Practice with Addictive
  Disorders

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Objectives

• Define family
• Understand key assumptions of a family system
• Identify family roles and values
• Examine the impact the family has on the addicted
  individual
• Explore unique aspects and treatment needs of
  working with a family with addiction

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What is family?
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Family is

• a social unit living together
• primary social group
• people descended from a common ancestor
• an association of people who share common beliefs
  or activities

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Assumptions of working with family system

• The family is more than the sum of the parts
• Families attempt to maintain homeostasis
• A change in one individual impacts all of the
  family members

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Assumptions of working with family system cont.

• Family interactions and behaviors are best
  explained by circular causality
• The family is made up of numerous subsystems and
  belong to a larger system
• Families operate according to their own rules
• Source Collins et. al (1999)

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Family Boundaries

• Shifting or changed boundaries
• Changed roles within the family system

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Impact the family has on the addicted individual

• Sabotage
• Co-dependency
• Tough love
• Enabling

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Other Treatment Considerations

• Domestic Abuse
• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Emotional and Behavioral Problems
• Passing on addiction
• Addicted individuals embarrassment to the family

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• "We must clear a path to the strength and energy
  at the core of family life...which will challenge
  each of us to face the truth about ourselves, and
  to find the courage to protect, nurture, and
  revitalize the families we so cherish."- Mary
  Pipher, Ph.D., author of Reviving Ophelia The
  Shelter of Each Other, Rebuilding Families