Are You Exposed To Alcohol Addiction? Learn How Children Cope With Their Parent’s Drinking Issues10/24/2016 Do you belong in a family, where alcohol addiction is a problem? Too much drinking is one of the common problems that one in every four families face in the United States.
Roughly 76 million adults have been exposed to the drinking problem in their family. Alcohol addiction is not an individual issue, but also a problem in the family. Children of Alcoholics: Some children were born with fetal alcohol syndrome when their mothers drink alcohol during their pregnancy. As a result, kids have birth defects. If the children were exposed to their father’s alcohol addiction early in life, children develop symptoms such as loneliness, chronic depression,low self-esteem, feelings of helplessness, guilt andfear of abandonment. They may also feel that they are to be blamed for the problems of their alcoholic parent. With their inability to help, they feel helpless with the ongoing problems in their home. Children born with alcoholic parent are more exposed to stress and tension. They face various tensions at home compared to other children of their age. Sometimes, they feel embarrassed, ashamed, hurt and sad. Often times, children may feel neglected when their parent struggling with alcoholism could no longer unction normal due to alcohol. There are also times that they get mistreated and hurt physically and emotionally by an alcoholic parent. There are a lot of problems that are associated with alcohol abuse. Aside from the alcoholic, the children are the ones who suffer the most. Common feelings of children exposed to alcoholism: • Children are depressed and may feel that they cannot do anything to change the environment or situation. • Children are confused of their parent who are struggling from liquor drinking as their attitude towards their children can go from extremes. They can be so angry when they are drunk and then so much caring when they are sober. • Children feel angry at times because of the situation they are in. They may blame the other parent for not able to manage the problem. • Children don’t trust other people. They feel that they cannot trust other people since they cannot trust their own parents. • Children exposed to alcohol addiction issues at home are also exposed to anxiety. They have lots of worries in their mind such as what would happen to their life or to their alcoholic parent. Ways to deal with an alcoholic parent: • First and foremost, children should admit that there is a problem despite the denial of the parent with alcohol addiction. • Children should admit their feelings concerning their parent’s drinking issues. • They should share their feelings with someone they can trust and depend. • They can find new role models that will help them deal with the situation and learn how to make good decisions. • Children should seek help from support groups such as Al-Anon/ Alateen.
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