Dysfunctional families and drug misuse

Abstract

The link between drug misuse and dysfunctional families has often been neglected. In this essay I will bring out the importance of this link in the addictive cycle. I will go about this by showing up patterns of behaviour which recur in the Dysfunctional Family. In so doing, I will be looking at various explanations which describe the causes underlying dependency/addiction to drug misuse. Alcoholism will be considered and included as one type of such misuse. Case histories will be presented of individuals who have received help with their addiction problems from the Drugs Community Service, which is run by SEDQA. Finally I will present the existence of a correlation between examples quoted in literature on the Dysfunctional Family and co-dependency, and the case histories quoted from practise base at SEDQA. In my conclusions I will show that the model of the theoretical concept of the Dysfunctional Family better explains the causes underlying addiction/dependency as well as reasons for relapse.