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What We Can Learn From Family Therapy

As we’re working to recover, therapy is one of the main elements of our recovery programs, and along with our individual therapeutic work, and the work we do in groups, many of us will decide to also try family therapy. This can be a daunting undertaking. Many of us have been estranged from our families for many years. We might have watched as our addictive patterns, and the unhealthy patterns of our family members, tore apart the family unit. We may be harboring deep resentment for our families and still carrying a lot of unhealed grief. There are some powerful lessons we can learn from family therapy, and when we’re open to these lessons, they can help us to heal not only our problematic family dynamics but also our individual addictive patterns.

Addiction is a Family Disease

For many of us, our addictions are a family disease, which can mean countless different things for each family. We may have inherited traits for addiction from our parents and/or other family members. We might feel that our substance use or behavioral addictions inspired the same in other family members, younger siblings for example, who have looked up to us as role models over the years. Whether or not heredity has been a factor in our family’s story with addiction, our problems with addiction nonetheless impact the entire family. They can contribute to everyone’s struggles with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. We can all feel the weight of the hopelessness, despair and defeat that accompany addiction. We’re all hurting as we watch one of our own self-destruct. When we’re struggling with addiction, we can feel deeply alone with our pain. We can be blinded to the suffering of the people around us, not realizing that our families are going through their own painful experiences alongside us.

We All Experience the Situation Differently

As different as our individual experiences might be, they are related, and they impact each other because we are connected as family members. Family therapy shows us this, and teaches us that our addictions and those of our family members have far-reaching impacts that we often aren’t aware of. When we work with our families in a counseling relationship, we learn to have more compassion for one another. We can become closer and feel as our anger and resentment soften. We deepen our understanding of each other’s experiences. We develop more patience with each other. Perhaps most importantly, we work to forgive one another for the pain we’ve caused both each other and ourselves.

At The Guest House Ocala, our recovery programs include family therapy in addition to individual and group therapy.

Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.

theguesthouseocala.com

3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488