Anyone who has lived
with an alcoholic or drug addict knows what a terrible impact the addiction can
have on the integrity of the family. Unfortunately, most family members do not
get the opportunity to access “family therapy”. Families are the silent victims
of addiction.
In this three
minute video, Gordon Hogg, Head Therapist at Castle Craig rehab clinic,
describes addiction as a “family illness, complicated by the fact that they
love them.”
He explains that
both the alcoholic and his/her family tend to follow the same dynamic. On the
one hand the alcoholic is putting a lot of effort into feeling good, by
drinking too much, and on the other hand the family puts a lot of energy into
helping the alcoholic -- and all of this is to no avail as nothing seems to
change. The disease of addiction can’t be successfully treated by the family.
“The family really
need help in understanding the problem, the illness,” explains Gordon Hogg.
“They also need help in being allowed to .. process how they have been affected
by this. This healing has got to go on in the family as well as for the
alcoholic.”
The good news is
that the families of alcoholics and drug addicts tend to be quite responsive to
the family therapy that is on offer at Castle Craig, and other residential
rehab clinics. Hogg says that “the relief the family starts to see is really
palpable, quite quickly.”
Gordon has found in
his 18 years experience of addiction treatment that “families instinctively
recognise that what we’re doing is the right thing to do.”
Private addiction treatment news: 28 November 2011
