Many couples nowadays find success through attending marriage counseling or couples therapy. The reasons for deciding to begin counseling vary, but they generally involve a lack of communication, constant conflict between patterns, or lack of trust. Some may find the everyday hardships of maintaining a healthy relationship manageable on their own.
However, certain circumstances and people can benefit from assistance from a third party. By attending counseling, you and your partners can improve your communication, restore emotional support or trust, and understand the core issue that leads to such a disconnect within the relationship.
The reason it’s essential to understand the benefits of couples therapy is that it may help you further understand the benefits of treating couples who are suffering from addiction. It’s not uncommon for addiction to be the most significant commonality between individuals within a relationship, in which case the best thing for all parties involved is to end things. However, there are instances where a relationship once thrived before addiction, and couples recovery can help you return to that state.
Is ‘Couples Recovery’ a Thing?
According to the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, behavioral couples therapy (BCT) is “designed for married or cohabiting individuals seeking help for alcoholism or drug abuse,” with the primary goal being “to build support for abstinence and to improve relationship functioning.” BCT is a form of therapy that can be effectively integrated into other recovery practices, including:
- 12-Step programs, if following one benefits your recovery
- Individual addiction counseling or the use of recovery medications
Timothy J. O’Farrell and Abigail Z. Schein, authors of “Behavioral Couples Therapy for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse,” also claim that research indicates BCT as producing better abstinence and improved relationships than orthodox individual treatment while reducing the “social costs, domestic violence, and emotional problems of the couple’s children.” BCT may not be commonly practiced, but by further understanding it, you can determine if it can help you and your partner recover from addiction and improve your relationship together.
How Seeking Treatment Together Improves Your Relationship
The first step in BCT is maintaining abstinence from substances and regularly attending therapy sessions. Once this structure has been established, you can improve the couple and family dynamics. Common emotions involved within a family or relationship include distrust, guilt, and shame due to decisions made by individuals under the influence or the consequences of those decisions. BCT is designed to focus on the lack of communication, positive feelings, or other conflicts conceived out of substance abuse and tackle it effectively to improve relationships.
The Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment indicates two primary relationship intervention goals in BCT: “increase positive feeling, goodwill, and commitment to the relationship,” and “teach communication skills to resolve conflicts, problems, and desires to change.” The goals are achieved through therapy, supervised couple exercises, and even homework to effectively implement practices into the couple’s everyday life. Like couples therapy, therapeutic practices like these help couples learn to communicate better, face feelings derived from addiction head-on, and learn the tools needed to maintain recovery and long-term relationships.
Benefits of Seeking Treatment Together
When it comes to anything involving relationships, it takes two to tango. Seeking treatment on your own is an empowering step toward bettering your mental health. However, if your partner is not receptive to what you’re learning in your therapy, it’s almost impossible to improve the relationship through practice. Individual addiction treatment uses intervention methods geared toward the individual in question, but treating couples together gears those interventions to both individuals involved.
Seeking treatment strengthens the core of your relationship and recovery as a whole. There are many reasons why relationships during early recovery can be risky. For those already in a relationship with each other, taking advantage of the tools you learn in therapy provides the unique opportunity of being a part of each other’s support system. It’s essential to have others have your back as well, but there’s something special about being able to work on something as important as recovery with your best friend together, every single day.
Consider Seeking Treatment Together Today
Not seeking the treatment needed to recover from addiction puts your relationship, family, and life at significant risk of irreversible damage. We want to think that it’s never too late, but many of us all know someone who it was unfortunately too late to save. Being in a committed relationship means being there on the good days, but especially being present on the bad days.
BCT can help you learn the tools needed to be there for each other, improve your relationship, and continue on your path to addiction recovery. Couples suffering from addiction together should seek treatment immediately. Only you two can take that first step together. If you want to create a better life for your relationship, your family, and yourselves, consider seeking treatment together today.
When intimate relationships are founded on the commonality of substance abuse, the relationship can be toxic and harmful to both people involved. In those circumstances, the person who actively seeks addiction treatment and embarks on a path to recovery is encouraged to end the relationship. However, there are cases where couples who had strong relationships and families before addiction can seek treatment and embark on that recovery path together. There are many benefits of treating couples together. Communication skills are improved, the core of their addiction is unearthed, and they can practice the tools they learn together to maintain recovery and improve their relationship as a whole. If you and your partner or spouse are suffering together, don’t wait to seek treatment. You can save your relationship and yourselves by calling Dream Recovery at (949) 732-1960. We can help you start your path to recovery and improve your relationship today.
Recent Comments