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Volume 8, Issue 4 (Suppl) J Addict Res Ther
ISSN: 2155-6105 JART, an open access journal Alcoholism 2017
July 03-04, 2017
Page 22
conferenceseries.com
July 03-04, 2017 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7th International Conference on
Addictive Disorders and
Alcoholism
Addictions and the family: A dual diagnosis
Addiction is a disease that not only impacts the individual but the family as a whole as well. Family members tend to take
on new unhealthy roles when infected with this disease in order to continue evolving as a unit and maintain homeostasis.
This form of dysfunctional balance helps keep the system going while enabling the addiction to continue manifesting further.
Codependency is a concept that describes this dysfunctional relationship or behavior of supporting or enabling another
individual’s addiction, unhealthy behavior, poor mental health or immaturity. Very often also known as ‘relationship addiction’,
people who are codependent end up in relationships that are not only destructive to themselves but also to the other parties as
well. In these kinds of relationships, people tend to become over-dependent on each other so much for the purpose of getting
their own core dependency issues met that their personal and emotional maturity is stunted from growing. As the addict
continues the addiction, the codependent sacrifices his or her own needs in order to fulfill the addicts’ needs. One person needs
to feel needed by sacrificing for the addicts needs while the addiction continues. They tend to continue to please people around
them in order to feel important and wanted. There is this strong desire to appear perfect and good for others to approve. They
have this delusional idea that as long as they can keep the important people in their life happy, their own pent up explosive
emotions will go away. This form of “dual diagnosis” is not uncommon in most families presenting with addictions. Similar
to treating any other dual diagnosis or comorbid disorder, family members require specific treatment as well and this paper
discusses how this is achieved employing a biopsychosociospiritual approach.
Biography
Prem Kumar Shanmugam is Chairman and Clinical Director of Solace Sabah Addiction Treatment Retreat. He co-founded Solace with the vision of helping
people with addictions recover and learn to live for life. He has worked in the field of Addictions and Psychology for more than 10 years. He is the Past President
of the Association of Psychotherapists and Counselors (Singapore) and the Regional Director of the Asia Pacific Certification Board (Singapore) while being one
of the founding members as well. He is a Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Trainer and Facilitator and is actively involved in research in the Addiction field. He is a
Certified Practitioner in Management of Family Violence Counseling, Certified Clinical Supervisor, Certified Substance Abuse Therapist (Level 4) and a Certified
Psychotherapist and Counselor (Level 4).
Prem Kumar Shanmugam
The Solace Sabah Retreat, Malaysia
Prem Kumar Shanmugam, J Addict Res Ther 2017, 8:4 (Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2155-6105-C1-029