The Family Disease is just that: the dis-ease among members of a family, when one of them is an alcoholic.

Very often, families of alcoholics feel that, once that person stops drinking, everything will return to “normal.” They imagine that the lying, strange behavior and moodiness will just disappear, and family life will resemble some Norman Rockwell painting. But it doesn’t work like that.

Alcoholism forces each member of the family into unnatural and unhealthy patterns of behavior. Mental health professionals call these behavior patterns “co-dependency.” To cope with the craziness of living with an alcoholic, each person assumes a “role”—a way of acting and reacting, based on the alcoholic’s behavior. When that behavior changes after the alcoholic has received treatment, the rest of the family needs to learn how to act and react in healthier ways. Otherwise, the family’s old patterns of behavior may actually hamper the recovering alcoholic’s ability to remain sober.

The remedy for alcoholism involves learning new ways of doing things. While in treatment, the alcoholic will be encouraged to address various personal problems (medical, psychological, social, vocational and even legal) that may have played some part in his or her desire to escape or avoid these issues by drinking. Treatment provides new insights and better social coping skills, so the urge to escape by drinking is reduced.

Through group counseling and one-on-one therapy, alcoholics in treatment gain a better understanding of how their drinking behavior has affected other members of their families. They learn how to interact with their family in healthier ways, once they have completed treatment.

But what happens to the family after the alcoholic has changed his or her behavior? Family members may feel strangely helpless, since the alcoholic doesn’t need to be “rescued” or “scolded” as before. The roles members of the family played in the past will need to be rewritten. The family needs to learn how to express love and care without the co-dependent aspects that used to be second nature to them.

The Family Disease needs The Family Cure, and that can only be achieved as a result of treatment for the entire family. That cure is only a phone call away. Please call (800) 344-9591 to learn more about treatment for families of alcoholics.