Alcoholism and The Family Affair: How Alcoholism Affects the Family

Alcoholism and The Family Affair: How Alcoholism Affects the Family

Being an alcoholic is no fun and certainly nobody denies that addiction is a form of sickness in whatever form it takes.  However, being closely associated with an alcoholic is also no bed of roses and entire families are affected by the social behaviour of someone in the grip of alcohol addiction. 

For a long term partner, wife or husband, there is a certain obligation felt to help the addict and support them in seeking professional help.  For young children and teenagers there are often deeper issues to address, some of which are not aired for months or years as the family struggles to help control the effects of addiction.

When an alcoholic is living within a large family structure, it is reasonable to assume they take up a great deal of attention that might usually be required to help younger members of the family through difficulties caused by adolescence; exams; teenage physical development.  Teenagers already have a battle with hormones: add Grandpa’s elderly problems and Dad’s alcohol addiction to the mix and you have a recipe for explosive family confrontations on a daily basis. 

Extreme addiction to alcohol produces some unpleasant problems, not the least of which is financial.  Alcoholism is an expensive addiction and one that requires a constant cash injection to sustain an adequate supply of liquor.  Cash spent on a bottle is no longer available for the things teenagers tend to think are essential to life, such as clothes, cell phones and money for entertainment.  The lack of funds can make a youngster resent the cause of ‘not being able to do stuff’. 

The younger members of the family, although sympathetic with elderly problems, tend to view addiction as an indulgence.  Grandparents with elderly problems are usually very welcome to be absent minded or even slightly senile, but not to be addicted to drinking.  Resentment causes teenagers to rebel and object and so the vicious circle goes on and on…

An even greater problem occurs when the addict is a mother.  Mothers who have an alcohol addiction have multiple problems to overcome for a number of reasons.  Women often provide the daily routine in the house, beginning with getting the children out of bed in the mornings to eat their breakfast and ending with putting them to bed at night after a nutritious supper and a warm bath.  All of this breaks down when the lady of the house is sleeping off a bottle induced stupor somewhere by the end of the morning.

The result is that other members of the family, some of whom might be trying to cope with elderly problems, must take over the household responsibilities while Mom sobers up in the corner – or not, as the case may be.  Many American homes are being run by elderly grandparents because parents are either absent or drunk.  The social difficulties faced by these reluctant carers are immense and in some cases, insurmountable.