Recovery: Where Does My Relationship Fit?
OK, you are in recovery for an addiction or for codependency. Everyone is telling you to work your own program, focus on yourself and on your recovery. The message is very clear: For now, put your relationship on the back burner. That sounds right to you, but the problem is that everyday you are struggling in your relationship. Increasingly you are feeling distant from your partner and you don’t know if you should even address your relationship concerns, after all, you are supposed to focus only on yourself. Feeling puzzled about where to place your relationship?
As a therapist and researcher I am interested in the “big picture” of addiction recovery. I have learned from my research couples that by addressing individual recoveries and relationship issues, you are creating the best opportunity for successful long-term recovery. A study by Humphrey, Coos, and Cohen (1995) supports this idea. The study followed 385 previously untreated alcoholics at three years and eight years after treatment to find out what factors led to successful long-term recovery. The results from the study indicate that the quality of family relationships is the most predictive variable of whether the alcoholic will maintain successful recovery eight years after treatment. Additionally, outpatient or therapy sessions and attendance in AA sought in the first three years of recovery increased the likihood of continued recovery at the eight-year mark.
We know that couples with alcohol problems have higher rates of divorce than the general population and we know that recovery does not necessarily reverse that trend. I believe that the recovery jigsaw puzzle challenges us to try to figure out where to place the relationship piece. Where that piece is placed is going to vary from couple to couple and will depend on a number of factors. I have met with tremendous resistance in the recovery field to this idea, but based on my research and other research that supports this position, I think they are wrong.
I am interested in hearing from couples and from recovery professionals about your experiences addressing relationship issues in the context of addiction recovery. What has worked, what has not worked, what ideas do you have on how to figure out where to place that puzzle piece? My ongoing research on recovering couples is based on learning from the folks who are in the middle of it. I will post comments and hopefully we can create dialogue.
Tags: addiction recovery, recovering couples, relationships and recovery
April 1st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
My partner and I have attended Recovering Couples Anonymous (RCA) which focuses on the relationship using AA principles. We have attended for five years and this program is mostly responsible for us being still together.