Family and Family Functioning as an Indispensable Stakeholder of the Fight Against Addiction

Problem Statement

Family system theory argues that the family is a living, social-emotional organism or system. Within this system, certain rules and roles indicate that interpersonal interaction and family members are interconnected. This approach argues that emotional disorders are a feature of the entire system, not just the individual (Jerebic, 2019). Family functionality is of great importance in ensuring that the physical, psychological and social development of family members progresses in a healthy and beneficial direction (Zeng & Tan, 2021). Research shows that good interaction between parents and children within the family is protective against the development of problematic behaviors. While problematic family relationships can contribute to the development and maintenance of addiction, supportive family dynamics can facilitate the recovery process. The family plays a very important role in the development and treatment of substance addiction., It is shown that the risk of substance use is higher in adolescents with problematic family functions and relapse tendency can be reduced by family functions (Dekkers et al., 2020; Jerebic, 2019; Kourgiantakis et al., 2021; Kivuva & Muasa, 2023). Although it is stated that family dynamics affect substance addiction, there are not enough studies investigating the steps at which the problem occurs and the factors that facilitate the emergence of the problem.Therefore, in this study, it was hypothesized that family relationships of addicts were problematic in all subgroups. And it is aimed to determine how addicts perceive their relationships with their families; how families of addicts perceive intra-family relationships; whether there are problems in the subgroups of problem solving, communication, roles, affective responsiveness, affective involvement, behavioral control and general functioning within the family for addicts and whether there are problems in problem solving, communication, roles, affective responsiveness, affective involvement, behavioral control and general functioning subgroups in terms of addict families. It is also aimed to determine the factors that may cause problematic relationships.