Family is a key institution in society hence, any attempt to destroy its relevance is not ideal. Substance abuse greatly affects the user’s general relationship with people.
If you have a loved one who is under the influence of hard drugs, substance abuse treatment at Emmaus Medical & Counseling can be of great help. Keep reading to discover how substance abuse affects relationships and families.
How Substance Abuse Affects Relationships And Families
The general impact of substance abuse on families depends on factors like, which family member suffers from addiction. The level of addiction or substance abuse, and the age of the abuser among others.
Notwithstanding, substance abuse hurts families, below are a few from many.
1. Financial Imbalance
Substance abusers spend on purchasing drugs to feed their cravings. It is observed that most victims of substance abuse have little or no control over their emotions, hence, they go to any length to abuse drugs.
Families will find it uneasy supporting someone who abuses drugs. Such people find it hard to secure a job, fund their visions, provide for the needs of the family, and also saving.
Living with a substance abuser may likely attract financial troubles and social vices, hence, family members will have to spend a lot in court and with the police.
2. Multiplied Risk of Abuse
Unfortunately, when substance abusers stay close to their loved ones, they can get frustrated, and unhappy and resort to more depth of abuse. This is a result of the remedy and rebuke displayed by family members.
There is no guarantee that the presence of family members will reduce the impact of addiction, it might get worse. Substance abusers can also become violent to their loved ones which is a threat to life.
3. Transferred Behavior
Living with someone who takes drugs increases your chance of doing the same. If children are exposed to drugs at a tender age through their parents, they may likely adopt the same behavior.
Also, learners can turn to drugs to get boldness, respect, or happiness because they have noticed their peers or family members do the same. This impact can be quite disastrous, hence, it is best to keep substance abusers far from children or family members.
4. Broken Homes
Aside from other factors that contribute to the number of broken homes, substance abuse can cause separation in families. Couples that are into drugs cannot be fit to train children, they will certainly transfer negative traits which are bad for society.
The violent behavior of most substance abusers will always push their family members to the wall, causing them to move out of the house or get separated legally. Also, parents that are given to substance abuse can lose their life thereby leaving back their kids as orphans.
5. Isolation
The many attributes of substance abusers can force unintentional social distancing from their loved ones. The impact of most abused substances always pushes its users to isolate themselves often.
On the other hand, family members can feel embarrassed associating with a substance abuser; they may resort to staying far off at social events to avoid tags.
6. Social Stigma
A good name is cherished in society but living with substance abuse can stain the integrity of your family. At worse, if a family has a recurrent issue with substance abuse, they get tagged negatively by society.
Children from such homes will have to face social stigma, prejudice, and sometimes, discrimination in school and while at social events.
