One out of every three Americans is an alcoholic, meaning they either abuse alcohol or dependent upon it. Not only does alcoholism have detrimental health effects on the body that can lead to death, but it also has tremendous effects on the mental and emotional health of the alcoholic. Alcoholics struggle to maintain their jobs, their health, their relationships, their spirituality and their daily routines- just to give a few examples. Alcoholics are powerless to alcohol, no matter how much they love their husband or child or job, the alcohol will always win- this is why it is a disease. The inability to control their addiction brings about immense shame and guilt. The causes of this disease are not completely known, but are understood to be
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A family is a system: a collection of parts that, when put together, equal something greater than the total of its parts separately. In a system all parts interact and a change in one part causes a change in the entire thing. The alcoholic’s emotional damage and chaotic lifestyle causes them affect their family financially, emotionally and psychologically, and in some instances physically too. Because it compromises the safety and living standards of a household, alcoholism is termed a family disease. Some psychiatrists have even claimed that alcoholic families are sicker than the alcoholics themselves: “In alcoholic families there is a greater use of pervasive and rigid defense mechanisms like denial, repression, minimization, reaction formation, rationalization and externalization" (Samuel, Mahmood, & Saleem, 2014). The family, as a system, seeks to survive by maintain balance at all costs. In the case of an alcoholic parent, the family members each take on a role as a way to compensate for the alcoholic. The roles of the family are rigid and circumscribed because the roles are taken as a way to either protect themselves or to protect their families. The presence of an alcoholic makes families dysfunctional and leads to stress and strain on all family members. In …show more content…
These rituals are normally disrupted or adjusted by the alcoholic. In some alcoholic families, rituals do not even occur; leaving the children with no examples of group interaction or relationship norms. In fact, researchers found that "the level of ritualization in the family was related to the child 's feelings of security and belongingness as measured through a self-report of adolescent attachment to the family" (Sameroff, 1994, p. 210). Those same researchers also sampled children of alcoholic families. They found children of alcoholics reported much lower levels of ritual meaning than non-alcoholic families. These children also reported "significantly higher social anxiety scores than children of alcoholics who reported high meaning levels or children of nonalcoholic families regardless of family ritual meaning level" (Sameroff, 1994, p. 210). These rituals set the example for the young of the group, many times in alcoholic families’ rituals also set the example for drinking. One study found that rituals passed down by generation also have a strong correlation with alcoholism in the families (Wolin, Bennett, Noonan &Teitelbaum, 1980, p. 199). Rituals cause the children of alcoholics to be more likely to pick up alcoholic tendencies and behaviors. Rituals not only teach young individuals about how to interact with society. Rituals teach individuals about themselves through the communication,
A family is a system: a collection of parts that, when put together, equal something greater than the total of its parts separately. In a system all parts interact and a change in one part causes a change in the entire thing. The alcoholic’s emotional damage and chaotic lifestyle causes them affect their family financially, emotionally and psychologically, and in some instances physically too. Because it compromises the safety and living standards of a household, alcoholism is termed a family disease. Some psychiatrists have even claimed that alcoholic families are sicker than the alcoholics themselves: “In alcoholic families there is a greater use of pervasive and rigid defense mechanisms like denial, repression, minimization, reaction formation, rationalization and externalization" (Samuel, Mahmood, & Saleem, 2014). The family, as a system, seeks to survive by maintain balance at all costs. In the case of an alcoholic parent, the family members each take on a role as a way to compensate for the alcoholic. The roles of the family are rigid and circumscribed because the roles are taken as a way to either protect themselves or to protect their families. The presence of an alcoholic makes families dysfunctional and leads to stress and strain on all family members. In …show more content…
These rituals are normally disrupted or adjusted by the alcoholic. In some alcoholic families, rituals do not even occur; leaving the children with no examples of group interaction or relationship norms. In fact, researchers found that "the level of ritualization in the family was related to the child 's feelings of security and belongingness as measured through a self-report of adolescent attachment to the family" (Sameroff, 1994, p. 210). Those same researchers also sampled children of alcoholic families. They found children of alcoholics reported much lower levels of ritual meaning than non-alcoholic families. These children also reported "significantly higher social anxiety scores than children of alcoholics who reported high meaning levels or children of nonalcoholic families regardless of family ritual meaning level" (Sameroff, 1994, p. 210). These rituals set the example for the young of the group, many times in alcoholic families’ rituals also set the example for drinking. One study found that rituals passed down by generation also have a strong correlation with alcoholism in the families (Wolin, Bennett, Noonan &Teitelbaum, 1980, p. 199). Rituals cause the children of alcoholics to be more likely to pick up alcoholic tendencies and behaviors. Rituals not only teach young individuals about how to interact with society. Rituals teach individuals about themselves through the communication,