Fatherhood and Addiction: Recovery Services for Dads

Addiction has a tremendous impact on how you read, process, and react to circumstances. When it comes to fatherhood, substance abuse affects your discretionary responses greatly. That’s because addiction chemically alters your mind to respond less rationally than you normally would have.

There’s no doubt a father loves their children. Yet, when the brain’s genetic makeup has become compromised, it puts the addictive chemical in the driver’s seat for all decision-making processes. This means unbeknownst to the user, even a child’s financial, schooling, and nutrition needs can become mentally secondary. Therefore, a child can suffer from unintentional neglect because of the mental harm of a parent’s substance dependency.

Addictive substances influence the emotional regions of the brain that affect relationship-building and personable interactions. This can make it difficult for a substance-dependent parent to build relationships with their children. In worst-case scenarios, it can cause a parent to be completely disconnected from their child’s life. You can begin the healing and relationship-building process by reaching out to our caring team of family-oriented specialists.

What this simply means is addiction usually manifests itself in a faltering appearance. Whether through lack of hygiene, unkemptness, or a physically disheveled appearance, substance abuse shows itself in personal image. This in turn can affect your countenance and the positive example they need in their lives. To be clear, your children need you and you have the strength within to be the example they need you to be. Unfortunately, chemical dependency can prevent your many positive attributes from manifesting themselves. We’re here to help you restore the real you and enjoy your child’s most vital years of development.

The saddest fact about substance abuse is it can cause one to do unthinkable acts. That includes subjecting children to emotional or physical abuse. Regardless of what fuels this abuse, these acts are the most serious and should be met with swift actions. If you suspect any red flags of abuse, reach out to the appropriate authorities and get therapy for all involved parties immediately.

Children learn by soaking up everything they observe at a very young age. When they observe a parent struggling with a substance abuse problem, that example can cause confusion in a child’s life. For example, when a child is taught that drugs are wrong, yet a parent exhibits the opposite, their decision-making abilities can be conflicted. This results in a setback in mental development, causing them to become indecisive and lack discretion when important decisions arise.

Whether a father is focused on trying to resolve or feed their addiction, either distraction results in a lack of child interaction. This causes a social disconnect between the connection that is most vital for a child’s social and academic development.  Many fathers who struggle with addiction don’t realize they are neglecting fatherly duties because mental dependency has taken control of their thoughts. We’ll teach you how to develop and build this most important bond with your child through our personalized treatment programs.

Though mental health disorder symptoms don’t arise until adulthood, most of these mental conditions stem from childhood trauma. Many of these traumas involve a parent with a substance abuse problem. Until a child reaches adulthood, it’s never too late to reverse the mental effects addiction has had on their development. You can begin the collective healing process by getting the help you need today.

Suffering grades is a sad side effect of when a child fails to get the academic attention they need at home. While it is a teacher’s job to help children learn at school, it is the parent’s job to help them learn at home. That means being aware of assignments, helping with homework, and teaching them to grasp the concepts their teachers are trying to implement. Because addiction is a difficult struggle, all of the aforementioned details can fall through the cracks unnoticed. Our dedicated experts are here to help you refocus your thoughts and efforts on the vital parenting priorities at hand.