Many people leave drug and alcohol rehab only to discover that they still have work to do. This work relates to the people in their lives.

Sadly, some people have toxic families or toxic family members. Toxic family members are family members who behave in ways that are extremely harmful to other members in their families. This behavior can involve physical, mental, emotional, or sexual abuse, extreme selfishness or egotism, gossip, manipulation, or other behavior that can hurt family members in various ways.

This toxic behavior might lead other family members to abuse drugs or alcohol as with their relatives’ bad behavior. As a consequence, people who leave rehab only to discover that they still have toxic family members often have some work to do.

They have to make some decisions. Should they cut these toxic family members from their lives? If these toxic members are abusive to them, if they cause them anxiety and other problems, if they do them considerably more harm than good, the answer might be yes.

Many people struggle with this decision. They say that that these people are still their family members. They don’t want to cut ties with their families.

Yet cutting such ties can be a healthy choice for people with toxic families. If people are constantly letting toxic family members back into their lives, they could be constantly opening up old wounds. The victims don’t get a chance to heal because they’re always trying to defend themselves from their toxic relatives.

Separating themselves from toxic family members allows people to step back. It gives them the chance to heal and move forward without having to defend themselves. The former victims can regain their strength and rebuild their lives.