text: Involving The Entire Alcoholic Family In Treatment - Pittsburgh Healthcare Report
  Patient Care Involving The Entire Alcoholic Family In Treatment
  Involving The Entire Alcoholic Family In Treatment
  The care of the alcoholic increasingly demands more involvement of family and community factors. Caring for the alcoholic's family is a vitally important step in his rehabilitation. Getting the family involved in this treatment has proven its effectiveness in most situations. In therapeutic practice with alcoholics, the family can be a barrier. This is because it makes it difficult to maintain and strengthen sobriety, by preventing the adequate reintegration of the alcoholic undergoing rehabilitation into society and with family members who could be enablers.
  Cooperation From Family
  In another facet of the problem and in most cases, rehabilitation is facilitated and consolidated by the proper cooperation of the family. This is not an indication of conscious negativism in the family. On the contrary, there is an adequate disposition of the family to contribute to the solution of the problem. Most rehab centers may inquire whether the family is willing to help or not. Many family members will make the effort while some have been exhausted and upset with the alcoholic; they want nothing to do with anything related to the treatment process.
  Unawareness of Alcoholism
  Sometimes the family is willing to help, but their help may not be adequate. This is because they do not know how the disease works, and what behaviors will favor the recovery of the patient. It is important for family members to know the process of how to treat an alcoholic because this is key to recovering from it. They can observe the following:
  The main problem for the family to face rehabilitation is the low level of knowledge about the disease
  The alcoholic's family expresses the willingness to learn as they perceive their lack of knowledge to deal with the problem adequately
  The application of educational intervention programs is a necessity for working with the alcoholic's family
  Here is a proposition of a session-based methodology, although there may be many others, such as how to face the problem of alcoholism in the family by:
  Identifying the family's coping style
  Assessing its effects on the family
  Promoting reflection on the family coping style
  Identifying the family's expectations regarding the alcoholic's rehabilitation
  Here we will reflect on whether the family is an unconscious collaborator in these bad habits, in this session, these are the objectives:
  Identify attitudes of codependency
  Promote reflection on the attitudes of control assumed by the family members over the way of drinking and the life of the alcoholic.
  Assess the negative impact of codependency on family dynamics
  Develop a program of changes that should be applied when living with the alcoholic
  How to Treat the Recovering Addict
  Individually, in this last session, what we will see is the important role of each family member:
  Promote reflection on the treatment of the recovering addict
  Assess the conditions of each family member to face the treatment of the recovering addict
  Develop individual action strategies for recovery
  Studying the attitudes towards the patient in the relatives who live with these patients is an important part of rehabilitation. Therefore, make sure that family members know how to treat an alcoholic. Alcoholism is a problem that can go unnoticed, or that can be downplayed due to its social acceptance. Everyone around the patient has to be alert to the effect and trigger points of this disease call alcoholism. Consult with the folks at Impact Recovery Center to know your role as a family member.