If a member of your family is currently addicted to drinking alcohol, then you are no doubt aware of the negative impact that it can have on a family. This is because the person who drinks often causes fights, spends all of the family’s money, ignores their children (if they have any), and just generally negatively impacts the overall happiness and health of the entire family unit.
Marital Issues
Of those couples who get into physical fights, around 60 % to 70 % of those are as a result of alcohol abuse. During this time, other family members might develop some sort of codependency issues that work to unintentionally keep the alcohol abuse alive, despite the fact that it causes harm. Where this happens, rehabilitation and / or family therapy can help to resolve the issue(s).
Impact On Kids
Young children and other dependents within a family unit can easily become majorly affected or even codependent on the alcohol abuse of a parent or guardian. In the United States, approximately 1 in 5 adults have lived with a family member who was dependent on alcohol during their adolescence years. These people are then likely to have some sort of emotional issues, compared with those adults who did not experience any alcohol abuse within the home setting.
By being exposed to alcohol addiction from a young age, children are more likely to have a harmful issue with alcohol themselves later on in their life. This is backed up by the stats that show that the kids of adults who abuse alcohol are four times as likely to actually abuse alcohol themselves.
It can be confusing for children to see a loved one drinking excessively and it is likely that they are not receiving the right level of support that they need from that parent or guardian. In those instances where the family member rapidly and often changes their behavior, e.g. going from happy to angry, it is not unlikely that the child thinks that the behavior is as a result of their own actions.
Seeking Help
Where and when alcohol abuse becomes a major issue that is affecting everyone within a family, then it is worth considering either seeking professional help or, at least, attempting to resolve the issue yourself. It can be difficult for someone who is addicted to alcohol to know when they reach this point and when they need to seek help for their problem.
Some addicts can be worried about going to rehab or even talking to someone about it. This is because there are lots of unknowns to the process, such as how long alcohol withdrawal lasts or what the cost of getting help is. Addressing each and every unknown that an addict may have will help them to understand the process more and, thus, be more likely to partake in it. Because of the clear and evident effect that alcohol abuse has on families, it is important that help is sought sooner rather than later – for everyone’s sake.