Because the family needs support too. Mental Health Disorders affect every aspect of your health and wellbeing. That’s why D’Amore Mental Health’s approach to treatment is holistic and personalized, providing care for the mind, body and spirit. Our specialized mental health treatment programs are designed to address specific recovery risks and challenges you may face. Explore our addiction rehab specialties, developed by experts to ensure the most effective care possible.
Codependency is a relationship where one person has extreme physical or emotional needs, and the codependent person feels pressure to cater to those needs. This often leads the codependent person to neglect themselves and others around them. Codependency often results in codependent adopting the problems of the afflicted person and as a result, allowing them to maintain their destructive behaviors.
A codependent person can develop low self-esteem and depend on their partner’s approval to derive their self-worth.
They value other people’s feelings over their own. The codependent will be a “people pleaser” and go out of their way to stay in their partner’s good graces. If they don’t, they will feel intense guilt.
A codependent will often take on the role of the caretaker. They may only feel fulfilled if they are taking care of the needs of others.
They will often lack boundaries. Codependent people may offer unwanted advice, internalize other people’s feelings, or try to manipulate the behavior of others.
Codependents are often preoccupied with relationships. They may feel like they are defined by relationships, and become obsessive towards their interactions with others.
Being a part of a family means helping each other through hard times. But when addiction and mental illness corrupt this natural instinct, the best intentions can contribute to harmful behavior. Enabling means doing for others what they cannot do for themselves. The distinction between helping an addict or a person with a mental health disorder and enabling them is very subtle. Enabling differs from helping because it allows the afflicted person to be irresponsible. Enabling behavior often protects people from experiencing the consequences of their bad behavior.
Family Counseling has yielded positive outcomes in adults and adolescents. It is used to treat addiction issues and other co-occurring problems. It has been helpful in treating conduct disorders, depression, anxiety, and family conflict. Family Counselors encourage families to apply the techniques that they learned in therapy sessions to improve their family systems. Patients are taught to develop behavioral goals for preventing substance abuse and other unhealthy behaviors. During each counseling session, these goals are reviewed and rewards are provided when they are accomplished. Patients and their families participate in treatment planning and choose the specific therapeutic methodology for their needs.
Learn to work through the chaos of the past
Build healthy boundaries
Learn to rebuild trusting relationships
Develop better communication skills
Learn to detach with love
Parents or family members of a person with an addiction or mental illness sometimes struggle to adjust to the influx of emotions and stress that arise during the treatment process. For many family members, trying to support a loved one leads to feelings of frustration and helplessness. During this difficult time, it is important to identify sources of reliable support. Family support groups are a great place to meet other people who are experiencing similar challenges. Sometimes the best support comes from people who have struggled with and overcome the same issues that these family members are facing.
Al-Anon is a worldwide fellowship that provides a program of recovery for the families and friends of people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. They help codependent people overcome their issues and learn to support their loved ones.
Parents of Addicted Loved Ones (PAL) is a Christian-run non-profit based on one founding phrase: “People helping people through the woods.” PAL meetings are usually held weekly and provide support for parents who have children that are addicted to drugs or alcohol.
PThe National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) provides support groups for family members of anyone who has experienced the symptoms of a mental health condition. Membership is free, and the weekly group is designed for adult family members.
A relapse occurs when a person who has achieved a measure of sobriety slips up and uses drugs or alcohol again. Relapses, while unfortunate, are considered a normal part of the recovery process. A relapse can be a single drink or a dangerous downward spiral towards death. The difference between these two extremes is how honest and willing the addict is. Oftentimes the guilt and shame of losing a sobriety date sends an addict on that downward spiral. Rather than treating these instances as an end of a road, relapses should be treated as a misstep on the road to recovery. A relapse indicates that addiction treatment should be begun again or adjusted. Relapse prevention techniques can help a person to decrease the occurrence and severity of relapses.
