ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the roles family members take on when there is addiction in the family. Families in which there is addiction tend to have members who engage in various coping strategies to survive what is currently happening in the family. It is important to remember that the adoption of these roles is relational, expressing both individual and familial coping responses. When people adopt a role in the family, they and the other members restrict the behavioral, psychological, and emotional experience of that person. If the role becomes their identity, there is a greater likelihood that some type of symptom (physical, emotional, or psychological) will be present. However, it is important to keep in mind that people adopt these roles, and allow others to take on their role, as a way to survive the chaos and pain that is living in the addicted family. The chapter presents three different conceptualizations of roles in addicted families—those from Wegscheider-Cruse, Black, and Johnson—and compares and contrasts these conceptualizations.
