Alcohol Abuse Advice

Alcoholics Effects On Family – The Effects on Family Members and Various Coping Strategies and Solutions

Alcoholics Effects On Family

Millions of people around the world suffer from alcohol addiction. Alcohol abuse crosses all social boundaries, affecting both genders, all ethnic groups, and all income levels. Regardless of the alcoholic’s social position, the family will surely be negatively affected. This addiction overwhelms both the drinker and family with self-pity, anxiety, guilt, shame, anger, frustration, self-hatred, and sadness. Alcoholics Effects On Family

Often, family members cannot understand why a drinker cannot use willpower to stop drinking. However, alcohol dependence has little to do with willpower. Those with an addiction are gripped by powerful cravings and uncontrollable urges. This misunderstanding may cause uncertainty and inaction, leaving the family to hope things will get better. But over time the severity of the addiction worsens and family life begins to suffer.

For example, when an alcohol-dependent parent is not paying attention to the children, neglect is inevitable. Daily caretaking duties are left undone. The sober parent is left with the responsibility to maintain daily routines, family rituals, as well as holidays and vacations.

Increasingly, the family arranges its whole life around the alcoholic. Out of love and fear, families of drinkers go to great lengths to cover up — or control — destructive drinking patterns. They have a compulsion to keep the family together, at any cost. This is called care-taking, rescuing, and enabling. Family members feel they have no choice but to put up with anger and disrespect and to remain in a state of continual worry, fear, and mistrust. As a result, life becomes totally dysfunctional. Also, the addict is further enabled to continue his or her destructive behavior.

As many have experienced, trying to change the drinker only brings resistance, hostility, and resentment. At times, the drinker’s hidden guilt and unhappiness is expressed with accusations and an explosive temper. They sometimes strike children, kick doors, and attack the nearest person. Alcoholics Effects On Family

Therefore, it is easy for family members to feel hopeless, unhappy, and unable to believe that things can ever change. The family is sometimes gripped by the memory of violence, infidelities, and other humiliations, such as yelling, crying, threatening, or the silent treatment. The family wants and needs help, yet cannot do it alone.

However, the situation is not hopeless. To begin repairing family life, one must first understand alcohol addiction and how it affects the drinker. One must separate facts from misconceptions. Indeed, erroneous beliefs about alcohol abuse can derail any efforts to help the addict.

Secondly, the family members must learn what they can do to reduce stress, anxiety, and worry. Most importantly, they must acquire techniques and strategies to change the dynamic of their interaction with the drinker. This change lays the groundwork for the drinker to have a paradigm shift — which is critical before he or she can decide to quit drinking. For, in the end, it is the drinker who must decide and commit to the clear path to sobriety. Only then can the family recover and rediscover life without the devastating effects of alcoholism. Alcoholics Effects On Family