A Stress-Coping Model for Conceptualizing the Impact of Substance Abuse on Families

Abstract

Substance abuse can have such a destructive impact on a family that it can both interrupt and transform the entire family's life. The impact of chronic illness on the family has been researched primarily from a stress-coping paradigm. Within the mental health literature, the impact of one family member's mental illness on other family members has begun to be investigated in a systema-tic and scientific manner. Within a stress-coping paradigm, the results of this empirical research have borne out the tremendous objective and subjective burdens placed on family caregivers (Biegel, Song, and Chakravarthy, 1994; Lefley, 1996). This article suggests that the impact of substance abuse on families may also be conceptualized within this paradigm and posits an evidence-based stress-coping model for conceptualizing this process.

KEYWORDS:

• families
• stress-coping
• substance use