Effects on Family & Friends
*the user's drug dependency harms not only the user but his or her family as well*
4 Main Feelings Experienced by Family Members:
1) anger
2) guilt
3) fear
4) shame
• A Family Disease
-Cocaine controls the addict the way a puppeteer controls his puppet. The drug
pulls the addict's strings, leading him or her along a path toward self-destruction.
The addict's behavior, in turn, affects the feelings, thoughts, and actions
of the rest of the family, making cocaine addiction a family disease.
• A Family Remedy
-Family members can best help the addict by first helping themselves. By learning
about cocaine addiction and understanding family roles, family members can free
themselves from the bonds of the disease and start the entire family on the
road to recovery
o Learn About Cocaine
You need to learn
about cocaine addiction before you can do something about it. The
disease is a harmful chemical dependency that affects the user's body and mind
and interrupts normal
family living.
o Understand Family Roles
Family members often
unknowingly enable the addict to use cocaine. By intervening instead
of enabling, family members can free themselves and the addict from the drug's
control.
o Road To Recovery: Treatment
-It dominates their thoughts and priorities, occupies their time,
money, and attention, and threatens their values and behavior.
-The effects of these changes ripple through the family, often causing the nonusers
to develop their own physical, psychological, and emotional problems as they
struggle to adapt. In this way, the entire family falls under the controlling
influence of the addiction
*Isolation and Hurt*
Because the addict is preoccupied with drug use, he or she often withdraws from
participation in the family in order to spend time alone or with other drug
users.
*Fear and Guilt*
Family members commonly feel fearful and guilty because the addict uses cocaine.
They fear the possible consequences for the addict, as well as for the family
as a whole. And to make matters worse, they often blame themselves for the addict's
illness and start believing that the drug abuse must have been caused by some
failure of their own.
*Resentment and Disappointment*
Because cocaine is such a high priority for the addict, family members may be
forced to make many painful and unreasonable compromises. The joys of normal
family living are sacrificed to a chemical dependency. As a result, family members
feel resentful and disappointed that the drug has caused such deprivation.
Questions for Family Members:
»Has the user's cocaine use become a source of conflict?
»Do you ever feel fear or guilt over the user's cocaine use?
»Do you ever suspect the use is worse than it seems?
»Have money or expensive items disappeared from your house?
»Do you ever avoid being with people because of a family member's drug
use?
»Is the user withdrawing from non-using family and friends?
»Has the user ever promised to stop or limit cocaine use?
»Do you ever rescue the user from situations caused by cocaine use?
»Do you shield the cocaine user from responsibilities?
»Do you ever try to rationalize the user's cocaine use?
»Do you ever lie to others about the user's cocaine use?
»Do you ever attempt to control the user's cocaine use?
STUDY ON FAMILY EFFECTS (Minkler, et al. 1994) (click to view)
STUDY ON VIOLENCE AND COCAINE USE (Chermack, et al. 2002) (click to view)
Cocaine Users:
• Lie about there whereabouts and their
drug use, so that family members can rarely believe anything they can
• Neglect their usual responsibilities
• May deplete their family's finances
• Display rapid mood shifts. Irritability, impulsiveness, and explosiveness
may lead to verbal or physical attacks on family members.
• May be associated with extramarital affairs or may cause sexual dysfunction
