Treating Family Dysfunction

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Marital and Family Counselling - Treating Family Dysfunction

When an addict is involved in heavy addiction and obsessive and compulsive behaviours, the people affected most by a person's using apart from the addict are those in relationships with them and their family. Counsellors and professionals have discovered that when an addict is ill, the rest of the family is also affected and tends to begin to act in obsessive and compulsive ways too, usually trying to rescue and save the addict.

Many drug addicts, alcoholics and other addicts have co-dependency issue in their family relationships. Both parties usually suffer from co-dependent traits. This means that when a client is admitted to rehab, they often require co-dependency counselling and their family might require counselling too.

Addictive behaviour is extremely stressful for family and friends, usually requiring them to seek marital counselling and other forms of relationship counselling. Therapy is highly successful at treating any family dysfunction that has resulted from the addictive process.

Co-dependency is defined as the natural reaction of any person who is in a relationship with an addict in full blown addiction. All types of relationships are affected when a person's addiction is out of control. Their love for the person and longing for everything to be normal is acted out in attempting to control the addict, when this controlling, rescuing and enabling will only help the addict stay in an obsessive and compulsive addictive state for longer.

It is only once the family members and those in relationships with addicts are able to help themselves and not compromise their boundaries that they are able to begin to heal. Family counsellors and relationship counselling can be incredibly beneficial not only to the family members themselves, but also to the addict.

Oasis Counselling Centre provides marital counselling for spouses of addicts and family counselling for the family members of addicts. Treating family dysfunction is a process and will not happen quickly, but with proper relationship counselling, some or all of the wounds caused by an addicted person's behaviour can be healed. Trust can be regained and healthy boundaries set.

At Oasis, therapy sessions such as "conjoints" are held with qualified addiction counsellors. These are therapy sessions with family and the addict. Marital counselling is also provided. Oasis also offers intervention information for families who need information on how to go about getting the addict in their family or marriage to agree to an admission to rehab.

If you need information on family counsellors, co-dependency or would like to set up an intervention, contact Oasis Counselling Centre in Plettenberg Bay to talk to one of our counsellors, or to find out more about our 12 Step recovery programme.