Alcoholism causes, treatment, and social impact

Alcoholism

Alcohol addiction is a disease that cannot be solved without proper treatment. Children of alcoholic parents have certain specific attitudes in common about alcoholism in the family. In a healthy family, there is a strong emotional bond between mother and child, however if the mother is an alcoholic, that bond is often dysfunctional or nonexistent. Similarly, if the dad is alcoholic, the bond becomes one of anxiety and risk for the kids. When both parents in the family are alcoholic, the challenges are intensified. There may be evidence of neglect, both emotional and physical, which may lead to a greater possibility that the children will end up in foster care.

The parents who are addicted to drinking often feel pressured with the demands of their kids. They do not like to play or talk with their kids and remain isolated from their activities. This kind of neglect from alcoholic parents gives rise to high-risk behaviors among their kids. Not only kids display these behaviors because they become less sensitive towards violence and drinking, but also they feel pressured among their peers. Moreover, kids of alcoholic parents become susceptible to conflict-escalating activities as they view this kind of activity normal. More often, the feeling of neglect induces a feeling of guilt; the child may see himself or herself as the main cause of the mother's or father's drinking; anxiety; the child may worry constantly about the situation at home. He or she is afraid the alcoholic parent will become sick or injured, and may also fear fights and violence between the parents; embarrassment; parents may give the message that there is a terrible secret at home; confusion; the alcoholic parent will change suddenly from being loving to angry, regardless of the child's behavior. A regular daily schedule, which is very important for a child, does not exist because bedtimes and mealtimes are constantly changing; and depression; the child feels lonely and helpless to change the situation. Since research has indicated that kids often process and interpret information via their parents.

If parents do not take adequate care in dealing with their drinking behavior, kids are likely to consider this kind of drinking normal. Hence, often kids of alcoholic parents take the same recourse as their parents did- -- they drink. When often asked why they drink, their response is that is it is normal, because their parents did it for relieving the stress and obstacle; so are they doing it. This cycle of neglect that causes so many adverse reaction in the children is itself induces these children to drinking and alcoholism. Studies show, that nine out of ten females will stay with an alcoholic male. Many of the women's reasons for staying with an alcoholic husband range from lack of viable alternatives to denial (Thayne, 20).

More than half of all alcoholics have an alcoholic parent. The statistics are even more bleak if both of a person's parents are alcoholic. There is also a very high chance that the child of an alcoholic will wind up marrying someone who is alcoholic. The issues that adult children of two alcoholic parents have are obviously compounded. Both sons and daughters of two alcoholic parents take themselves very seriously, judge themselves without mercy, are either super responsible or irresponsible and have difficulty with intimate relationships.

For a kid, growing up with an alcoholic parent often means enduring the stress and trauma of a dysfunctional home life, witnessing domestic violence, and experiencing childhood abuse, all of which can have a lifelong negative impact (Joshi and Kaschak, 211). All of these activities, which are considered dysfunctional and unsocial, are likely to be used by the next generation. It is because these kids do not have a family role model that they can emulate in their lives. All of these activities that these children see and feel leads them to create a cycle of alcohol abuse, since they do not know how to handle the pressure. So they begin drinking and the cyclic nature of the abused child's becoming an alcoholic who then abuses his or her own children, who then often themselves escape into alcoholism, is literally and figuratively deadly to our society. Because parental alcohol abuse is so strongly associated with children's enduring adverse and risky behaviors (Kashubeck, 540).

Some studies also suggest that genetics plays important role in alcoholism; however, the findings are that alcoholic parents and adverse environments might play even bigger roles. Therefore, one way to lesson the effect of alcohol abuse on kids is that they should be provided regular guidance through community and should be provided community role models that they could emulate.

The research shows that the impact of an alcoholic mother, rather than the father, has a much greater impact on the family. Research shows that in the occurrence of an alcoholic mother, children display much more emotional problems and often display destructive behavior toward themselves and others. Children with an alcoholic mother often go to school hungry, unclean and very obviously neglected. The sons of alcoholic mothers; constantly seek affirmation and approval, are either super responsible or super irresponsible, and have difficulty with intimate relationships (Sexias and Youcha, 47).

There are several other reasons that induce kids to drinking. First, as they lack parent supervision, they usually start bullying other kids and often misbehave with girls, considering it a normal. The other major findings are that adverse childhood experiences are common and strongly associated with personal alcohol abuse later in life; they account for a large proportion of adult alcohol abuse. The research also indicates that alcohol abuse is not a single activity rather it is encompassed into several other activities like: witnessing violence against mother; being verbally and psychologically abused; and being physically abused. For example, alcoholic parents have been characterized as unpredictable, inconsistent, unstable, less likely to show an interest in other family members, non-caring and insensitive. Studies show that living with alcoholic parents poison children's views of marriage, predisposing their own marriage to fail (Singer, Anglin, Song, and Lunghofer, 280-281).