What changes do family members need to make to support the recovery of an addict?

What changes do family members need to make to support the recovery of an addict?

Marc Kern (Addiction Expert, Director of Addiction Alternatives) gives expert video advice on: How is a behavioral addiction similar to a substance behavioral addiction?; What is an "addictive personality"?; What can be done about an addictive personality? and more...

It is essential that the family be very much involved within the family to recreate a new environment, a new lifestyle, for the addict, and for the family as a whole to be really successful in the long run. A change would primarily be seen in the interaction between the addict and the spouse. They would probably look like they're getting along better or would hopefully really be getting along better. There would be more openness about the addiction, but there would be more openness about the feelings that might lie below it; about not getting their needs met within the relationship, or about their ambivalence about being married to one another.