Helping the Whole Family Heal at the Cellular Level
There is a traditional Hawaiin saying that goes, “‘Ike aku, ‘ike mai. Kōkua aku, kōkua mai. Pēlā ka nohona ‘ohana.” This translates to “Observe, watch. Help others often and take help when needed.” That is the way of family.” The ”family way” is also how treatment and recovery work best. It is important to remember that the individual is not the only one affected by addiction and mental illness; family is affected, too. Thus, it is important that the family heal alongside the individual.
What Does It Mean to Heal at the Cellular Level?
Healing at the cellular level is all about healing all parts of the “Self” This means the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual components that make us whole; that make us who we are.
Cellular-level healing also means getting to the underlying root/core causes of our issues. It is rarely just the behaviors that are the problem, but rather, it is what is inside that is causing those behaviors.
To heal at the cellular level, we must heal from the outside in and the inside out. But, how is this done? The key is to make each recovery plan both individualized and comprehensive. This means ensuring that each client gets a personal assessment to see who the person is behind their struggles. As the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, said, “It’s far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has.”
Healing at the cellular level also takes work and multiple means, methods, and modalities. That is why it is important to utilize treatments from all areas of recovery, including psychotherapeutic, experiential, experimental, and holistic healing. All of this also applies to the entire family (including those outside the direct family unit who have been intimately affected).
Addiction and Mental Illness as a “Family Disease”
There is now little argument that addiction and mental illness are diseases. In fact, they are not just diseases, but rather they are “chronic diseases.” This means that addiction and mental illness are more similar to issues like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes in that they will almost always get worse without some type of professional intervention.
Just as addiction and mental illness are diseases, they are also “family diseases.” This means that the entire family is affected by the actions of the individual. Now, this is so common that there is even an entire chapter dedicated to it in the primary text of 12-Step recovery (commonly referred to as the Big Book).
The chapter is entitled “The Family Afterward,” and it states, “Cessation of drinking [and/or using] is but the first step away from a highly strained, abnormal condition. A doctor said to us, ‘Years of living with [someone with AUD or SUD] is almost sure to make any wife or child neurotic. The entire family is, to some extent, ill.’” This is letting us know that not only is the family “ill,” but it is also going to take a significant amount of work to make them well again. It is going to take a significant amount of work to help the family heal at the cellular level.
Helping the Whole Family Heal at the Cellular Level
While everyone can be affected by an individual’s addiction in some way, the family tends to take the brunt of it. According to the peer-reviewed journal Social Work in Public Health, “The family remains the primary source of attachment, nurturing, and socialization for humans in our current society. Therefore, the impact of substance use disorders (SUDs) on the family and individual family members merits attention. Each family and each family member is uniquely affected by the individual using substances including but not limited to having unmet developmental needs, impaired attachment, economic hardship, legal problems, emotional distress, and sometimes violence being perpetrated against him or her.”
The process should start as soon as possible to help the whole family heal at the cellular level. Many recovery centers only bring the family in toward the end of an individual’s stay in treatment. At Exclusive Hawaii Rehab, we find that this can be too little too late. Rather than keeping the family involved from the beginning, it helps to ensure everyone is on the same page when the individual is ready to integrate back into their day-to-day lives. This also helps to reduce the potential for relapse, which is much more common than we may like to think.
According to the peer-reviewed journal Current Psychiatry Reports, “It has long been known that addictive disorders are chronic and relapsing in nature. Recent estimates from clinical treatment studies suggest that more than two-thirds of individuals relapse within weeks to months of initiating treatment.” Also, “For 1-year outcomes across alcohol, nicotine, weight, and illicit drug abuse, studies show that more than 85% of individuals relapse and return to drug use within 1 year of treatment.” Incorporating the family from the very beginning of treatment can help to reduce these statistics significantly.
Integrating the Family During the Intake and Assessment Process
Here at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab, we find that overarching recovery plans rarely work. This is because they don’t take the individual into account. Now, this being the case, they almost certainly don’t take the family into account. This leaves the entire family vulnerable and lacking the potential for a full recovery.
Starting from the intake process, the entire family should be involved. This doesn’t mean that the family must be present, but it does mean that a deep dive into familial relationships should be explored. From there, recovery professionals can determine how much the family should be involved and in what capacity. Generally, this means that family therapy will come into play at some point.
Helping the Family Heal With Family Therapy
Family therapy is much more complex than simply “talking things out” together. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “Family counseling approaches specific to SUD treatment require SUD treatment providers to understand and manage complex family dynamics and communication patterns. They must also be familiar with the ways family systems organize themselves around the substance use behaviors of the person with an SUD. Substance misuse is often linked with other difficult life problems – for example, co-occurring mental disorders, criminal justice involvement, health concerns including sexually transmitted diseases, cognitive impairment, and socioeconomic constraints (e.g., lack of a job or home).”
Addressing all of these family dynamics is critical for healing the whole family. Family therapy also allows the family a safe space where they can address each other without fear of judgment or retaliation. However, family therapy may not be the only safe space that family members require. Many family members benefit from engaging in individual therapies.
Helping the Family Heal Individually
Just as the family must heal together, they must also heal apart. This is important because there may be a tendency for certain family members to “fade” into the background or others who feel as though they are slighted in the healing process. They may state, “After all, our loved one got direct attention for their addiction or mental health issues; why must I only engage at a group level?” The fact of the matter is they are justified in their assessment.
Now, the good news is there are many types of therapies that can help individual family members heal at the cellular level. For the most part, these therapies do not differ from the ones that an individual engages with while in treatment.
Helping the Whole Family Heal: Types of Beneficial Individual Therapies
Many types of effective therapies can help individual family members heal. There are psychotherapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), experiential therapies like nature immersion therapy, and holistic therapies like yoga therapy and meditation.
The key is to find the right combination that works for each family member. However, utilizing evidence-based psychotherapy tends to be the best place to start. It can help to build a strong foundation of recovery.
Understanding Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT is perhaps the most recognized psychotherapy today. There is a strong reason for this. CBT is one of the psychotherapies that has been practiced the longest (since the 1960’s). It is also one of the therapies that have been shown to be most effective at treating issues of addiction and mental illness.
CBT is a highly effective tool for identifying negative underlying issues. According to the peer-reviewed journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine, “CBT is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps people to identify and change destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on their behavior and emotions. Under stressful conditions, some individuals tend to feel pessimistic and unable to solve problems. This therapy promotes more balanced thinking to improve the ability to cope with stress.”
CBT helps bring underlying issues to the surface so they can then be worked through and their behaviors adjusted as needed. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) works to adjust negative behaviors as well.
Understanding Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT works to change the relationship one has with the events that cause negative thinking rather than changing the thinking (the cognitions themselves). According to the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychology, “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a behavior change method based on RFT [relational Frame Theory] and is explicitly oriented toward the development of greater psychological flexibility… ACT offers an alternative to traditional attempts to control unwanted psychological experiences. Rather than trying to control the content of thinking and emotions, ACT aims to help individuals change their relationship to these events.”
ACT can be particularly helpful for individuals struggling within their family system because it can help them reframe their negative feelings toward their family dynamics so they can better deal with them. Another helpful therapy for family members is trauma-informed therapy.
Understanding Trauma-Informed Therapy
Most people don’t realize just how common trauma is in the U.S. and around the world. According to the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Medicine, “General population studies have shown that a large proportion of people in developed countries have been exposed to at least one TE [traumatic event] in their lifetime (estimates from 28 to 90%), with the most common events being the unexpected death of a loved one, motor vehicle accidents and being mugged.” Trauma also arises when a loved one affects the family due to their addiction and/or mental illness.
Trauma-informed therapy takes intimately takes trauma into account so that root/core issues can be addressed. According to the peer-reviewed journal Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open, “Healthcare services themselves can unintentionally traumatize or re-traumatize people. This is especially true in communities that have been hurt by histories of, as well as current medical institutional practices that propagate and maintain collective traumas. In order to respond effectively to trauma of all types, healthcare providers need to understand trauma as beyond the personal and include community and societal trauma.” This includes family trauma.
It is important to remember that, as the previous article mentioned, trauma is not just physical but also psychological. If this trauma is not addressed, it will only progress out of sight until something “triggers” it to the surface. This can cause negative behaviors that can continue to cause pain in the family. There are other therapies that can help with this pain. These therapies are experiential.
Helping the Whole Family Heal: Types of Beneficial Experiential Therapies
Experiential therapies are much what their name supposes. They are therapies that heal through experience rather than discussion.
While many people consider experiential therapies to be individualized, they can also be highly effective when utilized as a family. Surf therapy and nature immersion therapy are great examples of this.
Understanding Nature Immersion Therapy
When the entire family gets out into nature, the entire family can begin to feel its positive effects. For example, according to the National Park Service, “5 minutes walking in nature improves mood, self-esteem, and relaxation. Frequent exposure to nature reduces anxiety and depression, while promoting a sense of well-being and fulfillment.” Also, “Physical activity in a green space can reduce stress and lower cortisol levels by 15%.”
The benefits don’t just conclude there. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “Besides improvements to physical and psychological well-being, exposure to natural environments has been shown to bring about positive impacts on cognitive functioning.” Also, “While cognitive restoration and physiological well-being are the prominent and renowned benefits of nature exposure, there is one important construct that is often overlooked in environmental psychology research studies – that is, the human-nature relationship; also known as connectedness to nature (CN).”
Now, this “connectedness to nature” also offers an ideal opportunity for a “connectedness to family.” This can also be experienced via the experiential therapy known as surf therapy.
Understanding Surf Therapy
Physical activity is an ideal way for a family to bond and heal together. While it may not be available everywhere, surfing is a great activity for this bonding to occur. This is why we offer surf therapy at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab.
Surf therapy offers a myriad of benefits. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “Carefully planned water activities tailored to the needs of the individual can contribute to correct psychosocial and cognitive development. The International Surf Therapy Organization summarizes the benefits of adequately indicated surf therapy as follows: improved physical health and mobility; improved mental health, including reduction of specific symptoms, such as posttraumatic stress and depression; improved well-being (strengthening of trust and confidence, encouragement of independence, resilience and protective coping strategies) and improved social skills.”
One might say, “The family that surfs together, heals together.” Of course, this can be other physical activities too, like swimming or yoga.
Helping the Whole Family Heal at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab
There is another traditional Hawaiin saying that we have here on the Big Island that goes, “‘A‘ohe hana nui ke alu ‘ia.” This means that “No mission is too much, as long as we take it on together.”
Here at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab, we understand how important working together and helping the whole family heal is. That is why we always include the family from the very start to the continuation of long-term recovery. Family is where the heart is. Addiction and mental illness can break that heart, but never for good. Exclusive Hawaii Rehab can help it heal at the cellular level.
One should never underestimate the importance of healing the whole family when one of its members is struggling with addiction and/or mental illness. Addiction and mental illness are family diseases and thus need a family solution. It is also important for family members to heal separately before they can begin to heal together. If you feel like you or a loved one are struggling with addiction, mental illness, or both, we can help get you on the positive path toward long-term recovery right away. You don’t have to go through this alone. For more information about the importance of helping the whole family recover, please reach out to Exclusive Hawaii Rehab today at (808) 775-0200.