Family is a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to helping someone in recovery. But there may be no addiction that puts at risk the health of family more than a sexual addiction.
The reason is simple. Family is the one of the primary sources of one’s identify. Who I am is informed by who my family is and how my family interacts with one another.
Children do not choose the the family they are born into. Nevertheless, the family teaches children how to be children. From our families we pick up the foundational habits of our lives that make life possible.
A sexual addiction strikes at the heart of family life. What from the perspective of the individual trapped in the sexual addiction is a personal matter, is from the perspective of members of the family acts of abandonment and betrayal.
When it comes to family participation in recovery, the challenge is not to “fix” a person struggling with addiction. The challenge is to raise awareness of how one’s own family functions and sometimes contributes to health and sometimes to disease.
Healthy relationships are the antidote to addiction. But a sexual addiction undermines the basic trust upon which healthy relationships are built. So when addictive behavior wounds the relationship, three entities need healing.
[arrow_list]- The Addict
- The Partner
- The Relationship
When a sexual addiction is disclosed, swirling emotional chaos makes it very difficult to gain one’s footing.
This is where LifeStar helps. Our experience with sexual addiction, betrayal trauma, and the journey of recovery can help you restore your family’s health, so your family can restore you.