Posted under The Family

Are Sports Addictions Damaging Your Relationships?

There are plenty of things to enjoy about fall. Football is one of them. Whether bundling up to watch the Friday night high school game from the stands or dishing out pretzels for Sunday’s big game on the giant screen, it’s all part of the fun. But what happens when love of the game replaces love for those around you? Can a seasonal love affair with sports turn into a bigger problem? Continue Reading

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Close Family Relationships Prevent Alcohol Use

When children hit the teen years, parents often struggle with their role in their child’s life. Many parents especially question their role in helping their teen navigate decisions about alcohol use, worried that they may drive their child away and into riskier behaviors if they make the wrong move. Continue Reading

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How to Help Your Teen Counter Peer Pressure to Drink and Do Drugs

Every day there are news accounts of people doing outrageous things, behavior they’d never dream of doing normally, but they’ve been influenced by their peers. It happens everywhere and among all age groups and across all demographics. But perhaps the most susceptible individuals are living right under your roof: your teenage son or daughter. The pressure from friends to drink and do drugs can be hard to resist. Fortunately there are some things that you as parents can do to help your teen counter such peer pressure and steer clear of alcohol and drugs. Let’s look at a few of them.

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Drink or Smoke? Stop the Negative Influence on Your Kids

We all have our little indulgences. We feel entitled to them, having worked hard to get where we are. Maybe it’s smoking a cigarette after a meal or having a toddy following a stressful day at work. Even if you engage in this behavior in a reasonable and moderate manner, however, you are sending some wrong signals to your kids. It’s time to take a hard look at these negative influences and do something about them.
 

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What if Family Members Shun You Because of Your Addiction?

Perhaps nothing hurts as much as being rejected by your loved ones. When it happens, you believe, because of your addiction, you have to look at the underlying reasons. Maybe there’s a sound basis for them turning away from you. It could be a combination of reasons. Here are some possible ones and what you may be able to do about them.
There are two stages of the addiction/recovery scenario to consider: First, if you’ve done nothing about getting over your addiction and, second, if you’ve already gone through treatment and are in early recovery.
 

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Al-Anon and Alateen Still Source of Hope for Families of Alcoholics

For the spouse, parent, sibling or friend of someone with an addiction to alcohol, support from others in a similar situation is critical. Many rely on support from groups like Al-Anon and Alateen to cope with a loved one’s addiction.

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All In The Family: What To Do When Everyone Is Addicted

Addiction treatment professionals say that addiction is a family disease. What that means is that when one person in the family has an addiction, the problems affect every member of the family. Treating just the addict, without doing anything to change family dynamics that may have contributed to the addiction in the first place will just result in the addict relapsing – sooner or later. There is another type of family addiction – when everyone in the family is addicted? What can you do then? Here are some answers.

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What If You Cannot Leave – But Should?

While the addict gets most of the attention in the family, whether or not he or she seeks and gets treatment to deal with the addiction, other family members suffer as a direct result of the addiction. In some cases, the suffering exceeds tolerable limits, encompassing extreme emotional and even physical abuse. When the situation becomes this dire at home, the logical and rational outcome is to leave. But it’s not always that simple. Sometimes the victim knows they should leave – but for one reason or another, they can’t. What should you do if you are in this situation? Continue Reading

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Substance Use and Family Violence

Substance use is not considered a cause of domestic violence, and in fact, many batterers are violent when not intoxicated. Many also continue to batter after successfully completing substance treatment and while remaining abstinent from substances.
Substance use is, however, significantly related to the increased risk, severity and even lethality of intimate partner violence. Further, substance use is also significant in other forms of family violence such as child abuse and neglect.

Research has shown that perpetrators of domestic violence are frequently under the influence of alcohol or other drugs during an episode of violence. In fact, regular alcohol use is considered to be one of the high risk factors in determining the potential for an incident of partner violence. Additionally, an incident of violence in which the perpetrator is abusing alcohol frequently results in more severe violence and greater harm to the victim. The US Department of Justice found in a 1994 study that more than half of the lethal incidents of domestic violence involved alcohol use by the perpetrator during the homicide.  Other studies have even shown an overall increase in rates of violence in the community when there is a higher density of stores selling alcohol. Continue Reading

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How to Show Compassion for an Addicted Loved One – Without Being a Doormat

When there’s an addict in the family, it takes an emotional and sometimes physical toll on everyone. Sure, you want to be understanding. It’s tough enough for the addict to admit he or she has a problem with alcohol or substance abuse, or gambling, compulsive sexual behavior, and eating disorder or overwork. Your loved one may not yet be ready to acknowledge the problem, or isn’t quite able to reach out for help. You’re left to bear the brunt of the addict’s roller coaster of emotional outbursts, as well as the binges, broken promises, missing money, and possible physical violence. While you do want to show compassion, you don’t want to be a doormat. Here are some suggestions. Continue Reading