Siblings Affected by Addiction
When your brother or sister is using, you may start to feel invisible. The family's attention, energy, and worry can be taken up by the person in crisis — and your own needs, your anger, your grief, may get pushed aside.
When a brother or sister drinks or uses drugs, Rebecca Mistry offers you a space of your own in therapy: for your anger, guilt and grief, and for working out the boundaries you want with your sibling and your parents. She sees siblings in person at The Blossom Tree Clinic, Suite 2, 6A Love Lane, Pinner HA5 3EF, or online. Session costs are on the fees page, and the first consultation is free.
The overlooked family member
As a sibling, you may feel like the overlooked member of the family. Attention may be focused on the person struggling or on parents trying to cope, leaving you feeling unseen or unsupported.
You might have grown up in the shadow of their addiction — a childhood spent walking on eggshells, being the “good one,” watching your parents fall apart. Or it might have started later, disrupting family gatherings, straining relationships, and leaving you wondering where you fit.
Therapy provides space to make sense of your own experiences, emotions and place within the family story.
What therapy can offer siblings
- A space that is yours — not defined by your sibling's crisis
- Permission to feel angry, sad, relieved, guilty — all of it, without judgement
- Understanding how your family role (the responsible one, the peacemaker, the invisible one) may have been shaped by the addiction
- Setting boundaries with your sibling and your parents
- Thinking through how to approach family events and gatherings you may be dreading
- Processing grief — for the sibling you wish you had, for a childhood that may have been overshadowed
- Looking at patterns you don't want to carry into your own relationships and parenting
Your experience matters
You may find yourself minimising your own pain: “It's not about me,”“They have it worse,” “I should be grateful I'm okay.”But your experience of growing up with — or alongside — someone else's addiction matters. It may have shaped how you see yourself, how you relate to others, and what you expect from family.
You deserve a space where that matters.
Common questions
Nobody ever asks how I'm doing — is sibling therapy a real thing?
Yes. Your experience is real and valid, and therapy can give you a space that's entirely yours — not defined by your sibling's problems.
I feel guilty for being angry at them. Is that normal?
It's understandable. You can love your sibling and be furious with them at the same time. Anger, guilt, grief, relief, and love can all coexist. Therapy offers a space to hold these contradictions without judgement.
Should I cut contact with my sibling?
That's a deeply personal decision. Therapy doesn't tell you what to do — it's a space to think about what you need, the boundaries that would work for you, and decisions you can live with.
You don't have to be invisible
A free consultation is a chance to be heard — fully, honestly, without apology.
Book a Free Consultation