ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about families and more specifically those that have one or more members addicted to alcohol or drugs. In families dealing with substance abuse, the developing patterns of interaction tend to become restricted as the family organizes around the use of the substance. This usually comes in the form of protecting the family from outside systems by having rules about not talking to others, or even themselves about the drug use. The family adapts and changes by the severity of the drug use and its impact on various family members. The functional family system is one in which all of the various family members, are able to successfully navigate the challenges of intrafamilial and external relationships. The chapter also focuses on exploring addicted families based on the use of a family typology. Haugland delineated a four-tier family typology based on paternal drinking: protective families, emotional disruptive families, exposing families, and chaotic families.
