Alcoholism and Its Impact on Family and Friends
Alcoholism has a detrimental effect on its victims; health wise, economically and socially. However, it is not just the life of the addict that is affected, rather their family and friends. Members of the family often find themselves affected in magnitudes of equal or even higher measures. Consequently, the recovery of the addict must have an impact on family and friends as well. These effects may be both positive and negative. This paper will discuss some of the ways the recovery journey of an addict impacts family and friends; focusing on both the positive and negative effects. In addition, the paper will give recommendations on how to go about the effects.
Supporting the Recovery Process
During the recovery process of an addict, support from friends and family is a necessity. Alcoholism may lead its victims to lose motivation, lack self-awareness and neglect their responsibilities (Al-Anon Family Groups 87). The recovery from this habit will require dedicated energy and time from family and friends to remind them constantly of what it is needed of them and help them get back on track. People that are close to the addict will, therefore, have to dedicate their energies towards the recovery of the addict in the attempt to help them recover.
Resetting Schedules and Dedication
Apart from dedicating their energies towards the recovery journey of the addict, family and friends will also be required to reset their schedule to accommodate time for the addicted person. Family members and friends may feel obligatory to ensuring that they are in constant contact with the addict to prevent them from slipping back to alcoholism which will force them to cancel personal plans (Al-Anon Family Groups 84). This not only may require that the family members and friends will be less productive, but also may be forced to remove important tasks from their schedule. In addition, time dedicated to the recovery of the addicted person may not be definite therefore creating uncertainties in the schedule of the affected members.
Emotional Impact
The recovery process has as well an emotional effect on friends and family members. Family members spend a lot of time thinking about the addicts' past actions in an obsessive manner which is not emotionally healthy for the family members (Al-Anon Family Groups 94). Furthermore, as more time is devoted to helping the addict recover, the non-addict family member may find it unable to focus on their lives and subsequently being unable to manage it. The emotional stability of the managing family member or friend can as well be affected as they are constantly exposed to the emotional outbursts of the recovering addict.
Facilitating the Success of Recovery
Despite these negative effects, family members play an important role facilitating the success of the addict's recovery process. Addicts need constant support and assurance from those that are close to them that they are important for them to keep on the recovering process. As a result, family members and friends of the recovering addicts must find a balancing point to help their patient with the emotional, spiritual and social growth they need to go back to normal. A number of strategies can be taken by the close members in achieving this support without having detrimental effects on themselves.
Detaching with Love
The first strategy is to detach with love. This refers to the separation from the addict emotional and physically in a manner that will still show love (Al-Anon Family Groups 91). Affected addicts and their family members should be left to grow emotionally independent and grow the ability to make independent decisions. Not only will this help family members feel less burdened but will as well help the addicts feel trusted by their family members and friends.
Forgiveness and Understanding
In addition, there must be forgiveness and understand from both parties involved. Forgiving the past of the addict for the actions they committed will help them embrace their patient with more love and therefore, help the addict recover faster (Al-Anon Family Groups 91). The role of the family in the addict's life is not only beneficial for the addict but the family as well as it will shorten the recovery process. Similarly, the family needs to encourage the addict to forgive themselves as this helps them overcome their guilt of the actions they might have committed in their past (Al-Anon Family Groups 97). This results in a quicker recovery process.
Incorporating Self-Help and Professional Help
Lastly, family members should incorporate self-help group and professional help towards helping their patient to recover. Creation of groups such as Al-anon for both families and addicts themselves can provide a quicker recovery process (Al-Anon Family Groups 87). Apart from bringing together people with a common goal, these groups as well have professionals that craft strategies that will fasten the recovery process while also encouraging the addicts to stay in the recovery process.
Conclusion
The recovery process of an alcoholic is an important process for the patient to become productive again. However, the recovering process can prove to be difficult not only to the patient but also to the family and friends of the recovering addict. Nevertheless, the participation of family and friends is a crucial aspect of the recovery process. Strategic balance between the support the addict needs and maintaining a healthy life for family members and friends, therefore, is crucial if there need to be a successful recovery process. It is the role of the involved family to find the required balance.
Works Cited
Al-Anon Family Groups. How Al-Anon Works for Families & Friends of Alcoholics. Al-Anon Family Groups, 2008.
