Journal Article Response: Family Risks and Resiliencies

 Article Summary:

            Addictions are a societal problem that is a growing concern and responsible for destroying families and communities. Research has shown that there is a strong correlation between disrupted family relationships and alcohol and drug addiction. This article includes interviews that were taken with 12 individuals who live and lived in the Higher Ground Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Trust. Results showed that the majority of the participants had experienced painful and traumatic childhoods in their families, which contributed to their addiction behavior and felt affected their current families. All participants and their families had suffered from different forms of family disruption such as loss of custody, marital breakdown, abuse, depression, and loss of employment. Other participants who were addicted and committed drug-related crimes experienced issues that also affected their relationships with their families (Schäfer, 2011).

            Four main themes were created after the interviews; however the most salient finding was that all participants felt they had not been able to develop functional relationships with their family. Substance use and dysfunctional family relationships yielded a strong connected according to the data. Overall, this demonstrates how addictions affect not only the individual but also the entire family (Schäfer, 2011).

Thoughts and Connections:

            According to our textbook, addiction often is an illness that affects the entire family, not just the individual. This is not hard to believe considering most people in the family care about one another. Frequently the upset is so intense that the family can barely function at all, and children growing up in these families cannot receive proper nurturing and care that they need. Due to these needs not being met, this addiction process commonly spreads through generations. This connects with the article I read because an issue they spoke about was not being able to develop functional relationships with their family (as a child) in the past and now they cannot form those relationships as an older person with their own family (as a parent) (Schäfer, 2011).

            When addiction is involved, the focus tends to lie on just that and not on the things and people who matter most. Not only does the person with the addiction have pain and complications, but also so does the rest of the family. Their problems revolve around how to deal with this person and their own strong feelings of upset. Addictions are also a source of major stress (emotional or financial) that spreads across and within the family system and affects the family dynamic and interactions with other systems in the community.

Article Reference:

Schäfer, G. (2011). Family functioning in families with alcohol and other drug addiction. Social Policy Journal Of New Zealand, (37), 135-151.