NCJ Number
177732
Date Published
1999
Length
336 pages
Annotation
This book explores the process of recovery from addiction to alcohol as it affects the entire family, presenting an innovative model for understanding and treating families confronting this difficult period.
Abstract
Family relationships change dramatically when one or more members adopt a life of sobriety after serious addictive behavior. The first years of sobriety are often marked by continuing tension that fuels marital stress, acting-out kids, and difficulties at work. The authors draw upon extensive clinical and research experience to show how families can be helped to regroup after abstinence; deal with periods of emotional upheaval; and develop ways of establishing a more stable, yet flexible, family system. Providing a developmental overview of the family recovery process, the book identifies key stages and domains -- from drinking and transition to early and ongoing recovery -- and highlights the therapeutic tasks and pitfalls that characterize each one. The experiences of members of four recovering families are shared in first-hand accounts that describe the ways recovery has challenged and changed their relationships. Expanding the therapist's role to include psychoeducation and supportive counseling, the authors provide pointers for assessment and intervention with individual family members and the family system as a whole. Instruction is provided in how to anticipate and overcome stumbling blocks to abstinence; make the most of Alcoholics Anonymous and other outside sources of support; put relationship problems "on hold" while maximizing each person's individual development; and radically restructure family roles, interactions, and beliefs that have been shaped by addiction. 125 references, appended interview questions, a glossary, and a subject index