Troubled families and individualised solutions: an institutional discourse analysis of alcohol and drug treatment practices involving affected others

Living with sibling' drug use. Bereaved siblings' family stories

Family members' problematic drug use is challenging for siblings affecting their well-being and their relationships within the family. Research about siblings living with brothers or sisters' problematic drug use and research on bereaved siblings' experiences indicates that life situations and support needs for both minor siblings and adult siblings can easily be overlooked, both in practice and in research. This article contributes to this knowledge gap by examining how siblings provide meaning to their sibling's drug use problem and how they position themselves and other family members accordingly. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were used for data collection, and fourteen bereaved siblings were interviewed. A narrative thematic analysis was chosen, and four themes were generated. These four themes, (1) Surviving difficult family life, (2) The relationships in continuous change, (3) It's worse for the parents, and (4) "We", as a synonym for the family, are presented in this article. Our findings demonstrated how complex and multifaceted siblings' stories about living with their brothers or sisters' ongoing drug use are. This study calls for more attention to siblings' situations. Siblings' lives are affected by their brothers or sisters' problems, and siblings should also be involved in routine support and treatment practices.

["I get a whole different view": Professionals experiences with family-oriented practice in addiction treatment]

Aim:

Family members’ lives and health are seriously affected by alcohol- and drug addiction in close relationships, and research on addiction treatment shows that outcome of treatment is better when family is involved, both for the patient and family member. In Norway, there are clear political and professional guidelines in favour of involvement of family/significant others in the course of treatment, however, there are few addiction treatment services in Norway who comprehensively do so. The aim of this study is to explore therapists’ experiences from involving family and significant others in interdisciplinary specialised addiction treatment (TSB), within an in-patient clinic in Norway. The research question is: What significance do therapists emphasise from involving family members within interdisciplinary specialised inpatient addiction treatment, and which professional and ethical challenges arise with such involvement?

Method:

The data was gathered through two focus-group interviews and analysed with thematic analysis.

Results:

The main findings of the analysis are: (1) “A solid treatment structure for family involvement is central to family-oriented work”, (2) “Substantial positive effects for both patient, family member and therapist are attributed to family-oriented treatment focus”, and (3) “New dilemmas and challenges arise as a consequence of emphasising family-oriented work”.

Conclusion:

The article gives insights in how treatment practice that involves family and network members can be organised, what can be achieved with such involvement, which challenges and dilemmas can arise, and discusses how these insights challenges language, ethics and judicial framework for addiction treatment.

"It's like being stuck on an unsafe and unpredictable rollercoaster": Experiencing substance use problems in a partner

Living with a partner with substance abuse problems may induce strains in an individual’s everyday life, including poor health, disrupted family life, and social isolation; this may lead to dropping out of education or work, a lack of safety and support, and facing various dilemmas and stigma.